A Life best kept secret
by chocomintswirl
Summary: Chapter 8 now uploaded. Rated M. Read at your own risk. Please R & R. Enjoy all.
1. A New Job

_Note to Disclaimers: I do not own Crescent Moon so don't sue me. That's the standard, isn't? _

A/N: This is an A/U fic, so there is nothing about the teardrops of the moon and all that magical flying stuff and powers, okay? Anyway, I'm taking a shot at another Crescent Moon fic. Hope you all enjoy.

Word Coding:

_'Thoughts'_

"Speaking"

Everything else

* * *

**A Life best kept Secret**

Brightness filtered in through her open window as the sunrays tried to harass her into waking up. She rolled over, sun-kissed blonde hair falling over her eyes in an attempt to block out the unwanted visitor. When her hair shield worked no longer, she resorted to throwing the covers over her head—success. With a sigh, she snuggled back under the covers, intent on more sleep as the silence surrounded her once again. However, all happy moments where one had beaten the enemy are short lived; therefore she wasn't the least bit surprised when the incessant knocking came two minutes later. Giving a sigh of defeat, she tossed the covers off and made her way to the door, scratching her head all the way. Upon arriving there, she threw it open in haste, her face groggy as she eyed the person standing in the doorway. "Oh…good morning Nozomu. Is it time to go already?"

The young man in front of her raised an eyebrow as he shook his head, smirking. "Mahiru…we're already late. You might as well take your time getting dressed now."

She frowned, eyebrows knitted in a somewhat melancholic expression as she rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry Nozomu…I'm just so tired. I had a long day yesterday, what with Chemistry Lab running overtime and English being moved to later in the night."

He patted her head as she smiled, sleepily. "Don't worry little sis. Everything is going to be all right." With that said, he disappeared down the hallway and back within the confines of his room.

Mahiru yawned as she turned back to her own room, suddenly interested in her dresser drawers as she pulled piece after piece of clothing in an attempt to dress herself for the day. While she did this, she couldn't help but smile at how much her older brother cared for her. Nozomu Moegi, her older brother by quite some years, was a spitting image of their father. He possessed startling blue eyes, pale skin, and luscious blonde locks. Mahiru, however, had brown eyes that wavered between hazel and something like a chocolate brown, with the slightest tinge of blue to them. Her skin, too, was pale like Nozomu's and her hair about the same shade as well. She smiled at the thought. However, people still thought that they were foreigners and treated them slightly differently than most people. With a sigh, Mahiru began to pull the clothing of choice on, namely, a pale blue sweater, a pair of faded blue jeans and a plain white shirt. She quickly ran a brush through her hair before heading downstairs for a fast breakfast. Nozomu was already sitting at the table when she walked in, busily eating a piece of toast while admiring the latest men's fashion in a magazine. Rolling her eyes, Mahiru let out a slight giggle as she picked up her own food as well as her juice.

Nozomu gave her a small nod as he picked up his bag, tossing his plastic cup in the sink as he made his way towards the door. "Mahiru, are you ready?"

She stumbled towards the door, grabbing her own bag as she managed to slip on her shoes. "Yes. Let's go. I don't want to be later than we already are."

Another chuckle left Nozomu's throat as he ushered her out the door. "Somehow, little sis, I don't think we can get any later."

* * *

Mahiru felt like her eyes were going to close whether she willed them to or not. Outside the sun was still shining and signs of life were around everywhere. She could hear the vibrant laughter of students on their breaks, music floating around campus and distant shouts of people who were enjoying the afternoon sunshine and fresh air. '_And here I am…stuck in chemistry lab for another hour._' She sighed as the teacher droned on about the most basic principles of Chemistry, ranging from orbitals to valence electrons to the periodic table of elements. Her mind wandered off as he hit the particularly boring section containing information on ions and covalent bonds. Her eyes drifted over to Keiko Himura, her friend of 19 years, as the dark-haired beauty nursed an ice-cold strawberry smoothie to her lips. Absently her mind flew to her pocket in hopes of finding money to buy a smoothie like her friend Keiko had been sipping earlier; however, there was nothing in her jean pockets but lint and an old candy wrapper. '_Well…guess that idea is shot,_' she thought in sheer boredom. Her eyes moved to the clock, watching as the hands moved at an agonizingly slow pace—too slow for her world. As she let her gaze return to the white board where chemical equations were sprawled about, she let her head hit the desk, blonde hair cascading over her view.

'_I need a job_,' she thought in annoyance.

At that moment, Keiko decided that she needed to check on her friend. "Mahiru, is everything all right?"

Mahiru groaned. "No. I need a job. And all the ones I tried to apply for, well…they got taken the minute before I walked in."

Keiko laughed at the other girl's sheer sign of misfortune. It was old news to everyone at school that Mahiru did not have luck at all; but somehow, she managed to give it to other people. "It'll be all right Mahiru. In fact, I heard there was a job opening at this new record store down the street from the college. After school, we should go check it out."

Mahiru let out another groan as she glared at the clock. "Fine. Thanks Keiko."

The other girl simply smiled as she handed Mahiru her smoothie. "Here, take a sip. Class is almost over."

Mahiru smiled as she brought the cup to her lips, her mouth watering. '_Maybe my luck isn't so bad after all._' However, her thought was short lived when the cup top popped off, causing smoothie to splatter all over her white shirt and blue sweater. Mahiru sighed as she sat there, strawberry smoothie on her face while the class laughed hysterically. She frowned. '_Forget it. I take that statement back._' The rest of the day was spent cleaning off her now stained clothing as best as possible and griping to Keiko until it was time to go apply for a job at the record store. On the way, Mahiru grabbed some lunch and notified Nozomu that she would be walking home with Keiko that afternoon. Trudging her feet, Mahiru made her way towards where Keiko stood waiting by the bus stop, sipping on another smoothie. Mahiru glared at the drink as she approached, which earned her a quizzical look from her friend as they began walking down the block.

"So…how did you hear about this record store?" Mahiru questioned, genuinely curious.

"Well," Keiko began, blushing slightly. "You know that cute boy in our class, Akira Yamabuki? Well…I heard he works there and I…thought we'd go see if it's true."

"You're dragging me to a record store to see some guy you like? What about my job application? Don't tell me they aren't hiring and this is a ploy to get me to go with you!" Mahiru's voice was somewhat shrill as she slapped her forehead. "Keiko…wait! Don't you have a boyfriend? Hokuto…or something like that, right?"

At the mention of her boyfriend, Keiko's expression darkened somewhat. Mahiru felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle at the other girl's mien. With a slight sigh, she brushed off the comment made by Mahiru, a smile replacing her momentary frown. The older girl laughed heartily as she patted Mahiru on the back. "No, they really are hiring. Akira is just a plus for me going with you."

A small breath of relief escaped Mahiru as they continued on their way. Her eyes were glued to her stained sweater until she felt a nudging at her shoulder, which compelled her to look up. "What?"

"We're here," Keiko replied, her eyes wide and fingers twiddling madly. "Let's go inside, you know…and see if we can find out what positions they're hiring for."

Mahiru nodded vigorously as they entered the shop, a small bell chiming as they did so. Neither girl was prepared for what they saw as they walked around the brightly lit store where smoky air surrounded them and music was blasting. Mahiru inhaled the sweet scent that lingered about the store, curious as to what fragrance it was, and whether it was a fragrance at all. Somehow though, the air seemed heavier, like cigarette smoke instead of incense. '_Maybe it's a special kind,_' she thought as she checked out the nearest rack, which held a rather large selection of foreign music. She was turning around when a voice in her ear caused her to jump. She whirled around and came face to face with a brown-haired youth with various gold piercings on both his ears. She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as he smiled in greeting.

"Hi, my name is Akira. We go to school remember?" She nodded. "Well, see anything you like Ms. Shiraishi?"

She shook her head, still too paralyzed to speak. She would have stayed in shock had Keiko not come bounding up, her hair bouncing as she did so, enthusiasm evident in her step. "Hi Akira. What's up?"

Akira smiled again, his eyes alight with amusement at Mahiru's state of confusion. "Hey Ms. Himura. What can I do for you today?"

"Just Keiko is fine, Akira. Well, Mahiru is looking for a job. I heard you have some openings. Can we apply?" Keiko's voice was filled with mirth as she smiled back at the young man.

At her statement, Mahiru awakened from her daze. "We? Since when was this a "we" thing?"

Akira tapped his chin in thought as he glanced around the store. "Well, if I recall, we have a cashier/customer service position open, and we have an inventory position open. Do you have any preferences before I give you guys the applications?"

Keiko shook her head. "No, at least I don't."

Mahiru agreed. "Not really. What's the starting pay?"

"Well, since we just opened up this store a couple weeks ago, our starting pay is about $8.50," he replied, looking around for something. "Of course, I need to ask Oboro about all this. I don't think it'll be a problem giving you each a job here, especially since we really need workers. Plus, I know you guys would make an awesome addition to the team."

Each girl nodded as he drifted off to look for this so-called "Oboro." Mahiru went back to browsing while Keiko wandered off into the record area in search of something. The young blonde haired girl was halfway into the rock n' roll section of the store when she bumped into someone. When she looked up to apologize, her breath caught in her throat. Before her stood a young man who had to be at least her age, maybe a little older. He had startling chocolate brown eyes, richly colored aqua hair and pale skin that contrasted heavily against his all black clothing. Mahiru was at loss for words as she tried to stutter out a decent apology to the person she'd bumped into. "I'm…oh…um…sorry."

"Watch where you're going, girl," he spat at her as he ignored her apology, instead opting to walk right past her.

She stood in stunned silence, staring after him as he disappeared behind an employee door, the chains hanging from the side of his pants swaying as he walked. '_He…works here? No…he probably just didn't see the sign for that door.' _She assumed thus since the young man wasn't wearing a nametag like Akira, neither did she think they'd hire him with the way he had spoken. "_But wait a minute…haven't I see him somewhere before?_' She jogged her memory for a moment before giving up. _'Still_,' she threw a weary look his way, '_I could've sworn that I've seen him before…maybe in school…_' Her momentary gazing was interrupted when a paper was flung in her face. She looked at it in surprise, somewhat cross-eyed as she managed to lift a hand and take hold of it. Behind the paper stood Keiko and Akira, both smiling as she gave them a puzzled glare. "Thanks. Um…who was that, the young man who just walked by?"

Akira raised a brow as he caught a glimpse of said young man exit the door, ignoring the glare the aqua haired youth sent their way. "What young man?" Akira pretended not to see anyone. "Anyway…you should go meet the boss."

"I'm hired already?" Mahiru forgot her sudden fascination with the young man as Akira nodded enthusiastically. "Wow…thanks. Um…when do we start?"

"First, you have to come meet the boss. Then…I guess you'll have a schedule by tomorrow. I can give it to you at school," Akira answered as he began leading them to the door marked "employees only." Inside, Mahiru glanced around at the ornate designing and decorative atmosphere. At the far end of the corridor they'd been going down for two minutes, she realized there was a closed door, one that must have housed their boss. When they arrived, Akira knocked lightly, his smile still radiant as he bounced on the balls of his feet. Mahiru fidgeted nervously with her hair as Keiko suddenly became rather interested in her purse. Akira threw them a reassuring face as the door opened. "Sir, the new workers are here. Should I send them in?" Both girls figured that the person within the office had accepted this, for Akira ushered them inside. "Don't worry, everything is fine. He's just going to lay out the ground rules and all." With that said, he disappeared.

Mahiru and Keiko turned around to face their new boss. He was an older man with graying hair but a kind face. Instantly both girls calmed as they took a seat before him, less nervous than before.

"Hello young ladies. My name is Oboro. I will be your new boss. But before I can allow you to work, there are some rules and regulations you must agree to, as is procedure when working at any job." His voice was smooth and comforting.

Mahiru felt relief flood her as he gave them a warm smile as he pulled out two stacks of papers, each one containing about three sheets. '_Contracts_,' Mahiru assumed as he handed them a pen. Both girls read over the papers before signing them with their signatures, binding themselves to—according to the contracts—at least a year of work, two weeks notice for quitting and confidentiality about the record store employees and customers. They'd heard it all before. With that done, the man excused them, asking them to check in with Akira before they headed back home. On their way out, Mahiru went up to the counter in search for Akira. However, she almost fell over in embarrassment when she came face to face with the person she'd bumped into so carelessly earlier on. She fought the blush that crept into her cheeks as she pretended not to see him, all the while hoping that Akira would come. For the oddest reason, she soon realized that Keiko was nowhere to be seen, either. She was beginning to curse her bad luck when she felt as though someone was staring at her. She slowly brought her gaze back to the counter only for her eyes to meet deep, brooding chocolate ones. Mitsuru stared at her in annoyance and Mahiru found herself struggling for words to explain why she was there. Mitsuru beat her to it though.

"Did you need something?"

She blanched. '_How does he work here? He's awfully rude to be helping customers…and there's no way…_' her thoughts trailed off as she discovered that he'd been tapping his fingers on the counter, thoroughly irritated at her for not answering. "I'm sorry…I'm…waiting for Akira."

He muttered something under his breath as he began walking away. For some reason, Mahiru heard herself calling out to him. Cursing under his breath, Mitsuru turned around, bothered that this random girl was calling him back when she clearly needed nothing—not from him, anyway. "What is it? Can't that damn idiot help you?"

Her forehead creased in slight anger. "Excuse me, but why are you so mean? If you work here, shouldn't you be nicer to your customers? You're attitude doesn't make me want to buy anything!"

His surprise was apparent as he stalked back to her, seething as he leaned over the counter until their faces were about a foot apart. She could feel irritation rolling off him in thick waves as she, too, glared back at him in defiance. If steam could blow out of ones ears, Mitsuru would have warmed the entire store. "And just what do I care if you buy anything from here, you stupid girl? I don't give a shit whether you're a customer or not!"

Mahiru felt like she wanted to burst as she felt her hands clench into slight fists. "Excuse me? I can't believe you! You can't possibly be an employee!"

"And what if I am?" He shot back.

"Then I don't know why they hired you! You are so mean, and rude, too!" She fired right back, though with less hostility than before.

He was about to respond when Akira came bounding up to them, practically dragging Keiko with him as he came to an abrupt halt between them. "Hey, hey, hey! What's the problem?"

"Nothing!" They both shouted in unison.

Akira took a step back as Keiko grabbed a hold of Mahiru's arm. "Well, we'll see you later Akira. Mahiru should be getting home or her family will worry, not to mention her big brother! See you at school tomorrow!" And just like that, the two girls disappeared through the entrance.

Once they had disappeared, Mitsuru slumped against the counter, head in his arms as he tried to gain control of his already rising temper. Akira patted his head, which annoyed him more than calmed him. When he felt calm enough, he rose to head in the direction of the inventory storage when Akira's voice stopped him. Mitsuru turned around, his eye twitching as he paused. "What?"

"I said, what did you do now? You know can't go yelling at customers like that! It takes away business!" Akira announced in slight disappointment as he opened the cash register, placing fresh bills into the slots.

"That's why I work in inventory! Besides, it's not my fault she was so stupid!" Mitsuru defended as he grabbed hold of the nearest checklist and the first available pen that came into view.

"She was a customer, Mitsuru." With a sigh, Akira rubbed his temples before smiling brightly. "Just go finish the inventory. I'm going to call Misoka so he can bring in the next shipment!"

Everything had returned to its normal atmosphere. But back in the packaging area, Mitsuru was fuming as he ripped open box after box filled with the latest pop music CD's to stack onto the shelves before opening tomorrow. He was halfway through his third box when he threw his knife down and let out a growl of aggravation. _'I don't even know that stupid girl!_' He knew this wasn't entirely true since they attended the same college classes, more or less; he just happened to sit away from the rest of the class, as much as possible. For instance, he didn't sit anywhere near the front nor did he converse with anyone in his classes. However, he did, for the strangest reason, seem to remember her and her friend, Keiko Himura, no matter how much he tried to ignore them. '_It's only because she's always doing stupid things in class, and today was apparently no exception…' _He snickered as he remembered her spilling the drink all over her shirt the earlier that same day_. 'Stupid girl, getting in my face…she has no idea_.' She was always tripping or falling over something, hitting her head or running into poles and the like. '_She's so annoying_,' he thought as he kicked a nearby crate in irritation.

His mind would not let go of the image of the blonde girl who had walked in. He had noticed her the minute she'd entered with her friend, her brown eyes sparkling as she walked towards his co-worker. Mitsuru wanted to slap himself as he let out a sigh. '_Thinking about her…I don't even know her! And I still have work tomorrow night…_' He scowled as he realized that further unpacking was futile since he might cut off his hand due to lack of focus. Kicking the knife to the side, he called Akira to ask when Misoka would come in with the next shipment. Luckily for him, it arrived the moment he picked up the phone. Grateful for some kind of distraction from his already hectic day, he continued his work as if nothing happened, glad that no one suspected anything. Misoka did not seem to pick up on anything strange as he placed box after box on the floor for Mitsuru to unpack. Nevertheless, the younger man could feel Misoka's eyes boring holes into his back, scrutinizing him from every angle as he went about his work. And if there was one thing Mitsuru did not like, it was being scrutinized. After feeling like he couldn't take it, he whirled around to face his shorter but older co-worker.

Misoka blinked. "Is something the matter Mitsuru?"

Furious, the aqua-haired young man threw his knife down, again. "And what's it to you?"

Once again, Misoka blinked, intrigued. "Then…I take it something IS the matter."

Enraged that the other man had tricked him into admitting anything, he viciously picked up the knife and began stalking away. "Just leave me alone," he threw over his shoulder as he disappeared into the front area.

"Indeed," Misoka replied to the air as he returned to his task of unpacking, a smirk on his lips. "Indeed, Mitsuru."

* * *

She let out a sigh as she plopped onto her bed, annoyed about the events of the day. Keiko had left her on her doorstep a few minutes prior and Nozomu had bombarded her with questions the minute she'd walked in. She shaded her eyes from the setting sun that shone into her window, feeling slightly more peaceful as her body relaxed. Cool air drifted in through her window as she watched the ceiling fan above her continue to turn and turn, circulating the air around her seemingly stuffy room. She'd been in her room mere minutes when she heard a knock on her door, one she could not refuse no matter how tired she was. With another sigh, she obligingly opened the door to allow Nozomu inside, somewhat annoyed that he was bothering her after such a long day. He marched in, smoothly as though he did not mean business; Mahiru knew better. Nozomu never bothered her unless he thought it was really important that he gather some kind of information from her, especially about her day today.

"So, you didn't walk home with me today." She nodded at him as he sat down on her bed. "What happened? What did you do today? As your big brother I…well, you know."

Mahiru smiled lightly as she glanced at him. "I went to apply for a job today, with Keiko, at the new record store," she replied as she turned around towards the wall, hugging her pillows. "I needed to."

He chuckled as he patted her head. "That's all right. I was worried. But you need spending money, and I've been trying to tell dad this since…a long time. Anyway, I'm going to go do my homework. Just let me know if you need anything, ok?"

"I will," she answered, her response muffled because of her pillow.

She giggled as he shut the door behind him, her eyes feeling as though they were beginning to droop from fatigue. She knew tomorrow she'd start work. It was Saturday after all. However, she wasn't sure how she was going to deal with getting up so early; she couldn't even do it for classes—how was she supposed to do it for work? Her mind drew a blank as she looked at her clock, eyes somewhat glazed over from a lack of sleep that had somehow found her over the past few weeks. '_10:00 PM already?__ Hm…I think it's bedtime now._' With that last thought, her eyes shut as she drifted off into a peaceful slumber, unaware of the things that would come tomorrow for her first day of work.

* * *

The next morning found Mahiru almost halfway off her bed, legs hanging over the side as she lightly snored her way through most of the sunlight. However, when the daily knock on her door woke her, any hope of sleeping in a little longer faded. With a groan, she rolled out of bed, managing a muffled response to the person outside: Nozomu. "What is it?"

"Mahiru, you have a phone call from someone named Akira Yamabuki? He says you have work today at 10:00, which is in…a half hour," Nozomu answered as slowly pushed the door open.

With a gasp, Mahiru fell out of bed, grasping for the phone from her brother's grasp. "Hello? Yes, hello Akira. Yes, of course. I'll see you there." As soon as she was done speaking she dropped the phone to the floor and darted towards her bathroom. "Sorry brother, I have to go to work!"

"Since when did you have a job?" He was curious.

"The one I applied for yesterday, well, yeah…I was hired. I have to go in for training right now. Bye Nozomu!" Mahiru shouted from the kitchen as she finished slipping on her shoes. She was out the door before he could ask her anymore questions about her new job. She panted as she ran to the store, not even thinking about stopping at Keiko's. '_She's probably already there…_' As she came to a stop in the doorway of the store, she raised a brow at the man standing before it, a box in his hands. He was shorter than her by a couple inches, but had stunningly long, dark green hair. He wore a pair of shaded glasses and a hat that read "inventory deliverer" on it in bright gold letters. Curious, Mahiru opened the door for him before allowing herself inside. She was about to ask him if he worked there when he turned to her while placing the box on the counter before a very hyperactive looking Akira.

"You must be one of the new employees," He said, sounding somewhat interested.

She nodded. "Yes, I'm Mahiru Shiraishi."

"This is Misoka Asagi. He works in inventory and shipping for our store." Akira's smile widened.

"Is Keiko here already?" Mahiru looked around as she inquired about her friend.

"Yeah, and she'll be working in the front here as a cashier and customer service representative; I already gave her the uniform—she's changing in the back—and here is yours." He thrust two packaged pieces of clothing at her. "The pants you're wearing are fine. You only need the shirt and an apron. The rest of the uniform you can get in the back. Misoka can help you."

"Right this way, Ms. Shiraishi. You'll be working with us in the back, doing inventory. I hope that's all right with you," Misoka responded as he led her past the familiar gray door with the sign "employees only" written on it in big white letters.

"Yes, anything is fine." She glanced around the stacking area, noticing all the boxes needing to be opened, opened boxes that were stacked with CD's showing and various half-cut boxes. She was turning the corner when she ran into someone. '_Great, Mahiru, you dolt_,' she thought as she stood up, dusting herself off before offering the person a hand. Who she saw, however, made her point a shaky finger. "You…what are you doing here?"

"You've met before?" Misoka looked intrigued again.

"Well, yesterday I…"

"This stupid girl bumped into me yesterday! What is SHE doing back here? Does Akira know that you're—"

"She works here now," answered the older man, adjusting his blue cap as he cleared a stack of boxes for Mahiru to sit on. He pressed a gentle hand to her forehead. "Do you have any pain?" She shook her head. "In any event, Mahiru this is your co-worker, Mitsuru Suou. Mitsuru, this is Mahiru Shiraishi. You'll be working together here from now on. Her friend, Keiko Himura, will be manning the front with Akira. Should there be any trouble, Ms. Shiraishi," he smirked at her. "You can always notify Oboro. Mitsuru does tend to get out of hand sometimes." He glanced at his watch as the aqua haired teen shot him a death glare. "Well, I must go. I have to pick up a shipment. It was nice to meet you."

With that, he was gone. Mahiru sighed in relief as she relaxed on the box he had cleared for her, her heart pounding slightly. "Well…that was stressful."

"Hey, you," Mitsuru's quiet voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Hm?" She looked up.

"GET OFF THAT BOX!" He shouted, scaring her out of her wits. In turn, she jumped off the box, nearly tripping on one that lay haphazardly in her path. However, just as her footing became steady, he moved forward towards her, startling her—she tripped on the box. Not thinking, Mitsuru jumped forward, barely managing to catch her as she toppled to the ground. Breathing heavily in relief, Mahiru looked into his eyes, awestruck for a moment before he released her, grumbling. "You stupid girl; what a klutz. I can't be saving you. I don't even know why Akira put you back here. You're a walking disaster—I've seen it so many times before."

Huffing, Mahiru poked him hard in the back. "You're so mean and rude. How do you know I'm a walking disaster? And don't I know you from somewhere?"

He tensed at her inquiry. "School."

She gasped. "We go to the same school together?"

"What's it to you, idiot?" He insulted her again as he stabbed the nearest sealed box with his knife.

Mahiru looked around for one like his; no such luck. Instead, she opted to sort the already opened CD's onto the stacking cart, alphabetically, of course. "I'm not an idiot. I just…didn't know we went to the same school."

"You wouldn't. It doesn't matter," he replied as he stabbed another box that was sealed. "Get to work. Unpack those boxes and sort them into their proper genres."

"Ok, but hey," she trailed off as he disappeared through the door. "Well…I guess I'll just ask later." Somehow, as she sat there sorting CD's, Mahiru felt like it was only the beginning of her troubles at her new job. '_Maybe I should've thought about getting hired somewhere else,_' she mused as she finished sorting one pile. As Mitsuru reentered the area, he threw her a withering look as she went back to stabbing boxes, rather harshly in her opinion. With a sigh, she returned to sorting the CD's again. '_It looks like I'm in for a long day_.'

TBC

* * *

_(I don't know…I am still playing the idea…but hope you guys like it so far. I'll be adding more to this one and most likely to my Teen Titans fic. All other ones, well…they're slightly hopeless right now. And, Crescent Moon V. 6 was everything I wanted it to be and I am squee happy about Mahiru and Mitsuru! That's all for now. Please R&R if you'd like. Chao.)_

Chocomintswirl


	2. Just noticing

_Note to Disclaimers: I do not own Crescent Moon so don't sue me. That's pretty damn standard by now, right? Besides…if I did own Crescent moon, then Mahiru and Mitsuru would've shared a more…"censored" scene of consummation, hehe. But of course, I don't own Crescent Moon. NO SUEING! _

A/N: This fic is still A/U fic, so there is still nothing about the teardrops of the moon and all that magical flying stuff, powers, transformations, etc, all right? Although, I am trying to keep them mostly to their characters without the magical stuff. Anyway on with the fic; ratings will be going up soon. Hope you all enjoy.

Word Coding:

_'Thoughts'_

"Speaking"

Everything else

**A Life best kept Secret (Chapter 2)**

It was late afternoon when Mahiru dragged herself back to the quaint little house that she, Nozomu and her step dad occupied. In one hand she carried her apron and work uniform, in the other, her head. She had one of the most splitting headaches she'd had in years. The throbbing in her temples was driving her insane; she didn't remember how she'd made it to her bed. But the next morning when she awoke, her blinds were closed completely, no sunlight filtering in. '_Nozomu must have…closed them, I guess._' Her thought was interrupted when she realized that her door was wide open. Curious as to why Nozomu hadn't knocked as he usually did, Mahiru arose and wandered down the stairs that led to the bottom half of their house. She was surprised to find her step father and Nozomu seated at the table, both looking somewhat tired. She stepped into the kitchen just in time to have both males turn to look at her, relief over both their faces. "Good morning father, Nozomu." Despite the fact that he was her step father, Mahiru still respected him and called him "father" as any girl did. "Is something the matter?"

"No, Mahiru. Everything is fine. Nozomu and I were just discussing my next business trip," he replied with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes," she answered with a small yawn. "I was tired."

"Yes, well, Nozomu tells me you found a job." She blanched for a moment until her father shook his head. "Don't worry Mahiru. I approve. However, I've just told Nozomu that I will be gone for about two months or so to promote the newest products the company has made. In that time, I am sure you and your brother will take good care of the house?"

Nozomu's bright blue eyes smiled. "Yes father, we will take care of everything." As their dad rose to put his dishes in the sink, the younger man turned to his sister. "Mahiru, Akira told me that you have work again today around 3:30. He apologizes for not giving you the new schedule, too."

She nodded, another yawn escaping her mouth as she sat down next to her brother. "Thanks Nozomu. By the way, what are you doing today?"

"I'll be taking a break from work to accompany father. I have some things to take care of before he leaves," he responded with a smile as well. He suddenly glanced at his watch. "Actually, now that I look at the time, we have to be going. And you got up awfully early this morning Mahiru. In fact, it's 10:30 AM right now. I think this is a new record," he laughed as he grabbed his last piece of sushi. "See you later sis."

She waved as both men disappeared through the front door. However, her mind was not on the fact that their father was leaving yet again but more on the fact that she had work. '_How am I going to deal with it this time?_' She'd been working at the record store for little over a week now, possibly two weeks at the most. Yet somehow, it felt like she'd been working for ages, and just the thought of working with Mitsuru another day drove her up the wall. '_And I have school with him tomorrow…this is just great,_' she thought sarcastically as she slumped on the table, bored suddenly. At that exact moment, a though occurred to her, one she hadn't acknowledged when her father was present. '_When exactly is dad leaving?_' she did wonder whether she'd be able to spend any time with the man that was supposed to be their caretaker. Knowing her luck, she'd not see him for the minimum of two months or longer. Somehow, it seemed like Nozomu was always the one who knew about things involving her step-father, which she attributed to him being her father's actual blood son. Nevertheless, Mahiru found herself dreading the impending events of the day, work most of all. Generally, the days passed on normally—not too slow, not too long—before she was hired at the store. '_Now everything had become a drag. But I…I will not let Mitsuru get the best of me! I will make us get along_!' With her new found determination, Mahiru marched up to her room to get ready for the day. She took a long glance at her work uniform before balling her hands into fists. '_Watch out job, here comes Mahiru Shiraishi!_'

* * *

"Hi, welcome!"

Mahiru smiled in reply as she greeted Keiko who stood at the cashier's desk. "Good afternoon Keiko. How have things been so far?"

"I've been working since 12:00 PM, but sales have been good. How are you today, Mahiru?" Keiko's eyes were sparkling as she noticed Akira walk by, waving.

Mahiru just shook her head in amusement. "I'm fine, thank you. Anyhow, I'd better get to work. It looks like some of these racks need to be re-stacked. See you on lunch break!"

Without further delay, Mahiru rushed in the back, placed her apron on and began grabbing her sorted shelves of CDs and vinyls from the previous day. As she began carting them out to the front, she realized that Mitsuru was standing before her, glaring a hole through her head, if it was possible to do so. Her eyes widened in surprise as she paused, wondering whether he would move or not. "Um…good afternoon Mitsuru. Can I help you or something?"

He shot her another glare. "No. Do you even know what you're doing? Have you ever re-stocked a CD rack you dumb girl?"

She furrowed her brow as she squeezed the hand railings of the cart, anger beginning to surface from inside her. She was starting to get tired of his insults every day. Pushing her upsets down, she smiled cheerily. "No. Are you going to show me?" For the past week or so, Mahiru had been shelving only parts of the vinyl collection. She'd been sorting CD's too, but Mitsuru seemed to always shelve those before she arrived at work—she began to wonder if he lived in the store. However, she did figure that re-stacking CD's would be more or less the same as doings vinyls. Mitsuru didn't seem to think so.

He walked past her. "No, I'm not. Get someone else to do it."

"I believe it is customary for you to show her how to do this, Mitsuru," A voice replied.

He bristled at the voice. "Says who?"

"Oh, hello Misoka!" Mahiru grinned as she saw the older man staring at them. "But really, it's ok. I figured it'd be the same as re-stacking CDs but…Mitsuru…well; anyways…I can always have Akira show me. Thank you." With that said, she disappeared through the employee's door.

Misoka turned to the young man who was fuming loudly in the corner, knife in hand as he began slashing boxes again. "You know, Mitsuru, you really need to work on your attitude around that girl. She is going to be your co-worker for a while, whether you like it or not. We don't need anymore complaints about co-worker compatibility." Shaking his head, Misoka began to walk out. "Tell Oboro that he needs to make a call in for the shipment from the old record storage."

Mitsuru rolled his eyes as Misoka disappeared through the shipping dock entrance to the outside. Tossing his knife to the side, he reached for the phone that was bolted to the wall on his left. Muttering under his breath, he waited for Oboro's line to pick up. "Hello? Misoka needs the new shipment to be called in. That's it." After hanging up the phone, he began cursing his co-worker to hell as he grabbed his knife to cut more boxes. He took a look at one of the stacks before sighing in annoyance. For the oddest reason, the day hadn't been going his way at all, and when Mahiru arrived, it only seemed to worsen. '_This is going to be one damn long day…'_

Outside of the shipping area, Mahiru was busy placing vinyls under their proper genres. She was humming happily to the music playing in the store, a selection made by Keiko, she was sure. To her left and right were customers browsing through the various options, some dancing to the music while others simply looked around. She saw Akira bouncing off walls by the cash register, his ear attached to the phone. She was in the middle of pushing the cart to the CD section when she heard the entrance bell ring. Normally she'd think nothing off it; but for some strange reason she felt compelled to look—and look she did. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw Nozomu walk in, shades on and smiling as Akira pounced him. Momentarily forgetting her work, she rushed over to the scene of commotion, not sure what to make of it. Out of breath by the time she reached them—she'd run across practically the whole store—Mahiru grasped her knees, panting in front of the two bewildered young men and Keiko. Akira leaned down to look at her, his brown eyes wide with curiosity.

"Mahiru, are you all right? Did you need something?" His tone was concerned.

She breathed in heavily. "No, thank you. But…Nozomu, what are you…doing here?"

He ruffled her hair as he let out a small chuckle. "Oh, I work here too. I guess I failed to mention that, didn't I?" Mahiru shot him a puzzled look. "Well, you see, I work with this store, rather—not here. In fact, Dad's company delivers a lot of the old Vinyl collection that they have here. I'm here to discuss some business with Oboro since…well, you know where Dad's going."

"Why didn't you tell me? All this time, too?" Mahiru felt upset all of a sudden as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Nozomu!"

He laughed again. "I'm sorry sis. Anyhow, it seems like it's all falling into place now." She gave him a questioning look but stopped when she noticed him staring off towards the back of the store. "Ah…I see now. I understand why you must be so tired all the time." Quirking a brow, she followed his gaze back until she caught sight of aqua colored hair coming their way. "Hello Mitsuru."

Mitsuru threw him a dirty look as he stopped. "What do you want, you damn prick?"

"I see your affection for me hasn't dwindled," Nozomu replied with a small smirk. "I see why yesterday was such a long day for you, Mahiru." He glanced at his watch. "Well, I'll see you at home later, ok? Right now, I have to go discuss. Bye all."

Mahiru watched as her brother disappeared behind the employee's door, her mouth hanging open. "Wait a minute! Akira…Mitsuru…you know my brother?"

Akira nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! He's been a part of this business for as long as I can remember!"

"That damn bastard…what the hell is he doing HERE in person?" Mitsuru was positively livid.

Mahiru blinked. "That's my brother!" She retorted to the angry young man; Mitsuru rolled his eyes as he turned away from her intense stare. "So…Akira, does he not usually come HERE?"

"No, not usually," Akira answered, tugging nervously at his nametag. "I think they might be re-negotiating our contract. Maybe the company owner is going on a business trip or something. I hope he's not thinking about breaking our ties…"

"I doubt it," Misoka said, appearing form nowhere. Mahiru jumped at his sudden presence as Akira continued pondering. "Anyhow…we still have many things to do here. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

The young blonde haired girl put a finger to her lips as she stared at the three, her face thoughtful. "Well, father did mention something like that, a business trip, that is," Mahiru offered as she turned back to her cart. "I don't think he's going to break ties with you guys." When they all turned to look at her she reddened slightly. "But I…uh…um…I'd better get back to work!"

From the corner of his eyes, Mitsuru could see Akira giving him a questionable look; his eye twitched. "What is it, you damn hyperactive idiot? You're not worried about losing business, are you?"

Akira simply smiled as he waved to Keiko. "It's nothing, and I didn't know you were so concerned about the store's welfare!" With a small nod, he patted Mitsuru's back affectionately as he took off into the various aisles of CD's.

"I never said I was," shouted the aqua haired youth as he began stomping his way back to the storage. However, as he pushed open the door, he looked back, feeling compelled to check on something—or someone. Just as he did, Mahiru happened to look up, her blue-brown eyes locking with his as she stopped stacking CDs to give him a friendly smile. He felt a slight blush creep into his cheeks at her smile; his furious look returned seconds later. Ignoring the customers walking around the store, Mitsuru glared at her. "What are you looking at you damn girl? Get back to work!"

Instantly, her face scrunched into one of obvious confusion then disgust as she looked away, resuming her steady paced working of stacking CDs in their proper places. At the cashier counter, Akira and Keiko watched the interaction with peaked interest. As Mitsuru disappeared behind the employee door, Keiko let out a small giggle as she leaned in towards Akira, her eyes narrowed. "I do believe there is more to this than I originally thought." Akira, not usually the one who played matchmaker, could only nod his agreement. Despite popular speculation, Akira was note quite as clueless as everyone around him thought. Sure, he didn't catch everything people did or said. But there were certain things that he paid more attention to—like cooking and making sure customers were satisfied. Only recently, when he'd taken a liking to Keiko Himura, did he find anything particularly girly that was even remotely interesting, such as the seemingly unspoken attraction between their co-workers. Both young persons would have drifted further along that train of thought had customers not suddenly come towards them, demanding to purchase their CDs of choice. With a content sigh about her day's work, Keiko gladly began ringing up each customer's items as Akira helped people find what they were looking for.

In the back, Mitsuru was fuming as he heard the door open, most likely signaling that Mahiru was done with her first cart. Pretending not to have noticed, he, too, reached for a cart to shelve, slowly wheeling it past her as she entered. He was getting closer to the entrance when his back suddenly tensed and his legs began to tighten. Holding back any pain he felt, he forced himself to continue as if nothing was the matter. Mahiru acted as though she'd not seen his shoulders twitch and legs wobble ever so slightly; but she did noticed. He kept moving past her without much acknowledgment, if any. At first it seemed like she was going to stop him for something; but as he inched past her it became clear that she was either bothered by his previous actions, or just didn't need anything. He was sighing in relief, almost halfway out the door when her soft voice drifted to his sensitive ears. Cringing in annoyance, Mitsuru whirled around to face her, his eyes ablaze. She stared at him, her eyes somewhat hazy as she fingered the CD case in her hands. Involuntarily, his fingers began tapping on the plastic rail of his cart, irritation obvious in his body posture. However, Mahiru didn't seem to notice as she began walking towards him, her steps uncertain. As she neared him, Mahiru felt butterflies erupt inside of her, her stomach doing flip flops from nervousness. He looked so annoyed that she was afraid he was going to yell at her again. When she finally was face to face with him, she shoved the CD case in her hands at his chest, surprised when he didn't immediately push her away or scream at her. Instead, he gave her a pointed stare full of boredom and inquiry.

"What am I supposed to do with this, girl?" He asked, voice even.

Mahiru blinked stupidly for a moment. "Oh…um…right. I…uh…didn't know where to shelve that one so I was hoping that you could shelve it. But I was wondering if you were…all right?" With a sigh, he took it from her and continued on his way, never once saying anything more to her. She wasn't sure whether to be annoyed that he hadn't yelled at her, or flat out overjoyed. '_Still_,' she thought as she watched him go. '_I'm glad I didn't get yelled at But he didn't answer my question either._' As she walked out of the store after work, she eyed her paycheck warily. '_Hm…$250.00 isn't bad at all…but…it still isn't enough.'_ Mahiru knew that she needed more money to keep up with all her class expenses and funds for her club trips, but the money she was making at the store wasn't enough. As she sat at her desk that evening, pondering a possible solution, she began to wonder if she had enough time to work another job—less hours, of course. Nevertheless, she still needed more money. Setting down her wallet, she clasped her hands together. '_That's it…I'll just have to get another job._' She knew her father would disapprove; so would Nozomu. However, what they didn't know couldn't hurt, right? '_I can handle it. I want to help father and Nozomu by not having to ask them for money all the time. Another job can't hurt._'

With her thoughts settled and her decision made, she reached for the switch on her desk lamp. '_Goodnight world. But tomorrow, say hello to hardworking, no longer waking up late Mahiru Shiraishi.' _Somehow, the phrase seemed awfully familiar as she lay her head down on her pillow that night. And though on any other night she would have liked to talk to Nozomu, especially with what she'd found out earlier, her body demanded sleep. Tomorrow would bring another interesting day at work, not to mention job hunting. But most of all, Mahiru hadn't studied all week and knew she had a dreaded Chemistry test to look forward to in the morning. School was going to be the biggest drag.

* * *

Mahiru could barely see out of her own eyelids the next morning as she placed her exam on the teacher's desk, rubbing her forehead with her available hand. As she trudged back to her desk to re-seat herself, her eyes caught the familiar sight of Mitsuru's aqua colored locks. He was sitting in the back, staring out the window with his arms crossed over his chest. He appeared completely oblivious to everything around him and Mahiru wondered, briefly, if this is why she never realized he was in her chemistry class. To her left, Keiko was giving her a somewhat worried glance as Mahiru managed to find her seat and situate herself without a commotion. Despite all that, her eyes had not left Mitsuru's figure as she continued to gaze at him in curiosity—until he turned to her, chocolate colored eyes blazing like hellfire. Immediately Mahiru whirled around, not wanting him to cause an outburst in class. She glanced at the clock to find that there was still at least an hour left of class time; but with her exam finished, Mahiru knew she could take a nap or simply leave. With work after class, she figured it'd be better to nap and then leave with Keiko since their schedules coincided so frequently, perhaps off by an hour or so from week to week. Letting her head fall to her desk, she relished in the cool surface of the plywood as she felt her eyelids droop from staying up so late the night before. She slept.

On the other side of the classroom, Mitsuru eyed the blonde haired girl suspiciously. He'd noticed how tired she was and wondered about it for a moment. When he caught himself worrying, he quickly clenched his fists in annoyance, which was becoming a common emotion associated with his co-worker. He had turned in his exam early and was also planning on getting some rest before work that afternoon and evening. Just the thought of work in the evening made him tired and caused his skin to crawl, just a little. He hated work after closing the store. Oboro never approved of his other job but the pay was good and he wasn't half bad at it; but he hated it. Even to the day he didn't understand how he got the job or why he'd taken it. But it was paying good money and he needed all her could get. Pushing down another sigh, Mitsuru resumed his steady gazing out the window, forgetting Mahiru for a while. As he listened to the ticking of the clock on the wall, he felt his own eyes becoming heavy. The night before had worked him hard in the inventory keep. Luckily he didn't have work after that. But all the weeknights before had worn him out, both physically and mentally. He'd barely been able to make it to work the next day; he was exhausted. But no one would know that except Oboro—no one ever noticed. '_Until that damn girl came. She seems to notice everything._'

His eyes flew open and scanned the room, frantically, until they landed on her sleeping figure. Somehow, he wasn't sure exactly how, she noticed how tired he was and even asked about it. Sure, he hadn't answered, for he figured she'd not ask anymore questions or take offense to the fact that he hadn't answered. He acted this way with her all the time; it wouldn't suddenly change. Yet it seemed fishy, he thought. Stretching his stiff and sore legs, Mitsuru turned his head back to the papers lying atop his desk; most of them were study guides and notes he'd taken. He eyed it with little interest as he heard the bell ring. Standing up slowly, he watched as the rest of the students rushed out the door, eager to escape the torture of three hour chemistry labs and bask in alcohol or some other activity Mitsuru deemed plain out stupid. He opted to gather his things at a slower pace before proceeding to the door. Once there, he scowled as he spotted Mahiru and Keiko waiting for him, the latter wearing a perturbed look as Mahiru leaned on her for support, still groggy from her nap. As they departed—together, to his dismay—he could only deepen his scowl of irritation as Mahiru's unconscious form fell onto his shoulder. He was not looking forward to the rest of the day at all.

TBC

_(All right, the second chapter is done. Hopefully it was up to par for you all. I enjoyed writing it for everyone and for myself. Mitsuru torture will become more frequent in the future chapters, not to mention his life is beginning to unravel to his co-worker (cough Mahiru cough). Anyhow, hope you all liked it. Oh, and Teen Titans: Chapter 10 is done and I'll be posting it in about a few days, for anyone interested in that. Please R&R if you'd like. Chao.)_

Chocomintswirl


	3. Find out about me

_Note to Disclaimers: I do not own Crescent Moon so don't sue me. This is standard by now, I hope. If you try to sue me…then, well…that's pretty stupid as I have nothing to give anyone. NO SUEING! _

A/N: This fic will remain A/U and the ratings are definitely for a mature audience. There is cussing, violence and nudity to come. If there are any limes/lemons, they will be posted on Also, I don't know if I mentioned the ages of the characters, but they are as follows: Mahiru, Mitsuru, Keiko are 20. Akira is 19. Nozomu is 22 and Misoka is 24. And yes, it's ok and legal—at least in my story—for Mahiru to work at the place she's working (a place that serves drinks…cough). Thank you. Enjoy.

Word Coding:

_'Thoughts' and some flashback type thingies_

"Speaking"

Everything else

A Life best kept Secret (Chapter 3)

Mahiru found her eyes becoming increasingly heavy as she made her way towards the bar. From where she was, the bar appeared fairly cleaner; cleaner than most—but the jury was still out in her mind. As she stepped through the doors she changed her mind. It wasn't a bar at all. It was a spacious opening that looked more like a restaurant than anything else. There were tables sprinkled about here and there with the main bar up towards the front of the room but off to the side. In the middle there was a stage with flashing lights and a glittering curtain. '_This must be a show or talent agency or something…maybe even a really weird club…_' her thoughts trailed off as a woman approached her. The woman appeared friendly but scary with her heavily applied makeup and fake lashes. She had bright red hair and wore a weird leather looking outfit that Mahiru found too tight. Her feet were covered in heels that looked painful to walk in and on her hands were a pair of curious looking biker gloves. Her bright, fiery red hair was also pulled back into a rather sloppy looking clipped-do that Mahiru found oddly attractive on the woman. Mahiru waited in her spot as the woman came to a stop in front of her. "Hi, you must be the new worker, Mahiru Shiraishi?"

Mahiru nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Hm…Rupert said you were cute. Well, anyway, I guess I should start you off. Your first shift will be tomorrow night, all right?" The woman replied. "By the way, the name is Ms. Moro; but you can call me Lucy."

Ok," Mahiru answered as she followed the woman, amazed that she could walk in such high heels. "Um…Lucy, what is my uniform?"

Lucy laughed. "Well, most girls don't like our uniforms—they are a little risqué, but I don't think they're too bad. In any case, this is what they look like." She suddenly shoved a pair of clothing in Mahiru's face.

Mahiru blanched at the outfit. In her hands were a short leather skirt and a top made of something that appeared vinyl. "I…um…Lucy…"

"You can wear any shoes as long as they're slightly dressy; absolutely no tennis shoes or sandals!" Lucy continued on as though she hadn't heard Mahiru's plea. "You can wear your hair back in a bun, pulled back in a ponytail or even in a sloppy clip, like mine. Long hair will just get in the way, so don't even bother. Also, it seems Rupert has taken a sudden liking to gloves so the workers are required to wear them now—stupid, in my opinion. In any event, you start training today and believe me, there ain't much to it. It's all just the basics like taking orders, filling orders, usual customer service type stuff except in a really annoying outfit."

Mahiru's wide eyes softened a little as she nodded. "Ok…um…I guess I start now?"

Lucy nodded enthusiastically. "Sure thing! Let's just head on over to the back. I have a spare pair of heels that you can try to wear for today. Anyway, let's start, all right?"

"Sure," Mahiru replied with a weary and somewhat tired smile.

The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully, for the most part—with the exception of Mahiru tripping on her heels a few times as well as dropping a few cups. For the most part, however, she did fairly well, most of her balancing of records and such lending to her skill. As she waved goodbye to her new co-workers—all who seemed thrilled to have her—she contemplated a good way of keeping her new job a secret from Nozomu. He hadn't appeared to have sense when she got her job at the record store; he found out through Akira and her father. '_But with no connections to this place…he shouldn't ever know!_' With a decent amount of new found relief, Mahiru made her way home, content but tired all the same. As she entered the door that evening she found Nozomu waiting for her at the table. A tinge of worry and terror struck her at the chance that he might have found out; forcing a smile, Mahiru took a seat across from her brother who was idly sipping tea and reading the newspaper. Taking her own cup into her hands—Nozomu had prepared one for her—Mahiru took a sip, relishing as the hot liquid soothed her slightly aching throat. Leaning back into the comfortable cushions of the chair, she sighed, a deep sigh of evident sleepiness.

Nozomu arched a brow. "Tough day at work?"

Mahiru nodded, trying to play it cool. "Yeah…Akira worked me harder than ever today."

"You're kind of late today, aren't you?" He asked, unassuming.

She smiled again, her eyes sliding shut at the same time. "Yes…about that…well, Nozomu…I've decided I need tutoring for Chemistry and well, I need to find a decent tutor. My teacher did the deed tonight…but he said I need to find someone else who can do it at a far more reasonable time."

Her older brother looked relieved. "Thank the heavens. I thought maybe it was something else. You seem awfully tired today. But then again, I suppose Chemistry tutoring does take a lot out of someone. Anyhow…you'd better get to bed Mahiru. You have school tomorrow and work, if I remember correctly. Misoka and I will be out on business trips every now and then as well, so Akira, Mitsuru, Keiko and you will be managing the store, all right?" She nodded again, this time seemingly more unenthusiastically than before. "Well, off to bed then. Good night Mahiru."

Waving to him in a sleepy manner, Mahiru managed to pull herself up to go to her room, practically dragging her feet the entire way up the staircase. The house sounded strangely quiet despite the fact that there were crickets outside as well as the distant shouts of children staying up late and barks of dogs. Nevertheless, Mahiru barely made it to her bed before passing out for the evening, coincidentally forgetting to set her alarm clock. As a result, the next morning she could do nothing but curse herself to the ground as she looked at the clock; it read 12:00 PM. '_Great,_' she mused as she rolled over, blocking out the offensive rays of sunlight. '_I missed Chemistry class again…no wonder I'm not doing so well…_' Sighing again, she forced herself out of bed and into the living room where there was a note lying on the coffee table as well as a pair of keys and some money. Picking up the note, Mahiru scanned the neatly handwritten letters. The note was simple in explanation as she processed it.

_Lil sis,_

_I've gone on that short business trip with Misoka as of today. I'll be back in three days time. I trust you enough to leave my car keys here with you. There is money for gas, food and anything else you need in that pile. Be safe. I've also asked Akira and Keiko to keep and eye on you while I'm away. If you wish them to sleepover during my absence, feel free to have it so. Love you._

_Nozomu_

She blinked, rubbing her eyes in disbelief. '_What is it with leaving and business trips all of a sudden?_' Shrugging her shoulders she made her way towards the bathroom, figuring she could at least be to work on time since it didn't happen for school. Her mind was slowly wandering around the ways she would get to work while she was at the record store; she did actually have tutoring and extended classes for chemistry lab. Balancing school, work and her home life, Mahiru found that she was going to have to make the best use of her time or she would not be able to do what she needed to. She sighed. '_I really could ask father to pay for everything…but he's already done so much since mom died…and he's really very busy teaching Nozomu the business…no, I can't. I have to do what I have to do._' She was washing her face rather slowly when a sudden thought struck her. '_I know! I can carry my stuff with me and then change right before work…and hopefully no one will see my new uniform or suspect._' With a small congratulation to herself, the young blonde haired woman made her way to her bedroom to change for work. She selected a pair of normal looking black pants, a plain pink long sleeved t-shirt and a decent pair of tennis shoes. After changing into her outfit for the afternoon, Mahiru grabbed her new uniform and borrowed heels, shoving them tightly beneath her school books. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she dashed out of the house, barely grabbing a piece of toast before leaving.

The entire time she ran to the store, which wasn't far from her school, had her thinking of her tasks for the day. '_I wonder what I'll be stocking today. I hope it's not the foreign section…I just don't understand some of that stuff…and I don't want any…help._' The thought of having to ask Mitsuru for help was something she wasn't willing to do at the moment. Her mind always went into overdrive when it came to her silent, brooding co-worker. Shaking her head vigorously, Mahiru burst through the back door into the loading dock area, barely managing a missed slap for Mitsuru by her backpack. The enraged youth only stared as Mahiru yelled an apology before disappearing into the changing room for her apron and tools. At that precise moment Mitsuru was mulling over the fact that Misoka had left him in charge of the shipment needs, such as phone calls, pick ups and drop offs. He was even more bothered by the fact that Misoka insisted that Mahiru accompany Mitsuru in order to gain further experience in her job field. The green haired young man hissed as she reappeared in the doorway, her blonde hair tousled from a hasty change and her uniform slightly askew. It took her a minute to realize that he was giving her a bewildered look, which caused her to take in the state of her dress.

"Oh!" Straightening herself out and smiling embarrassedly as Mitsuru rolled his eyes, Mahiru greeted the grouchy young man. "Good Afternoon Mitsuru."

"Yeah, and what of it?" He snapped as he went back to staring at the keys in his hands. He noticed Mahiru looking at him sourly as she stuck her nose up at him. Feeling his face aflame, Mitsuru spoke. "Hey, girl, you have to come with me today. That stupid Misoka is on a business trip with your prick brother, and we have to take care of all the shipping and loading of CD's and stuff."

Mahiru blinked, ignoring the insults to her brother. "Um…so we are supposed to…go in the truck, then?" Mitsuru snorted. "Fine, whatever. Let's just go. I wish this day would end already."

"And I don't want it to? I'd rather be six feet under than here with you the entire day!" He yelled as Mahiru winced at his tone, her hands over her face. "Let's go!"

Her eyebrows creasing, Mahiru balled her fists together. "Well, I at least want to TRY to get along today, Mitsuru."

"Like I care what you want, stupid woman," Mitsuru replied as he practically ripped the door open.

"Is it safe for you to drive when you're so angry?" Mahiru ventured to ask as she opened her own door before stepping in and buckling her seatbelt.

"That won't affect my driving!" He almost screamed at her as she put a finger to her ear to block out his constant yelling. He only felt his eyes blaze up more at the gesture. Shoving the key into the ignition, he pressed the button to open the docking gate before zooming out of the garage, his hands gripping the wheel so hard that Mahiru could have sworn they were white. "Just shut up and don't say a thing, you hear?"

Mahiru nodded, too annoyed to say anything anyway. Turning in the direction opposite to her co-worker, she sank down into her seat, arms crossed and her face a mask of boredom. '_This so sucks…' _She wasn't so sure she'd make it through the day; therefore, surprise washed over her when they pulled into their last loading schedule for the day. Mitsuru was busy talking to the shipping personnel that he hadn't bothered to ask her whether she wanted to know about it. Mahiru simply sat in the truck, her eyes slightly heavy as she thought about work that evening. Her feet throbbed in anticipation of wearing such high heels again, especially in her new uniform and around many guys. '_It's an exclusive club after all…though I don't know what that stage is for; but I do have an idea._' She blinked away the first signs of sleep as she heard Mitsuru reseat himself in the vehicle, muttering and cursing the whole way in. However, only when he put his foot to the pedal did Mahiru awaken from her dreamy state as the ignition was revved and the loading dock door was opened for them. She watched as Mitsuru waved to the man before turning away to the window to stare at the scenery, once again, until everything was moving so fast she couldn't focus. Naturally, when they pulled into the docking area at their record store, Mahiru jumped out before Mitsuru could say anything, eyeing her watch furiously. She barely made it to the clock out area but she was fumbling for her timecard the entire way there. Mitsuru eyed her with curiosity as she shoved the card in the mechanism, grabbed her bags and scrambled out the door, her shouts of farewell reaching his ears, though faint.

Bringing a hand to his head, Mitsuru scratched his hair in irritation as he watched the door she'd just exited through. Unbeknownst to her, Mahiru had dropped what appeared to be an article of clothing on her way out—or at least Mitsuru thought it looked like clothing. However, when he picked it up, the silky material slipped through his fingers instantly and Mitsuru blushed deeply, thinking he had discovered a pair of spare underwear. Before he could stop himself or think "logically" about what he was doing, he had picked up the cloth again, eyeing it with sudden interest. '_Does_ _she actually wear silk underwear…? This is…nice…it's very…soft…_' He had just started opening the piece of silky cloth when Misoka and Akira burst in, unannounced. Mitsuru dropped the cloth again, this time trying to seem as though he hadn't noticed it. A little too late, however. Misoka reached for the cloth and then turned to Mitsuru.

"What is this?" He asked nonchalantly.

Mitsuru shrugged. "I don't know."

"Weren't you looking at it just now?" Misoka questioned again, still showing no outward signs of expression or emotion. Even his tone was blank. "Is it yours?"

"NO!" Mitsuru snapped rather nervously as he continued to pretend that he'd been checking the inventory in.

"Where's Mahiru?" the older man queried, glancing around for the blonde haired young woman. "Isn't she supposed to be working with you today?"

"She left, okay? She clocked out already, and that was on the floor when I got here!" Gritting his teeth, Mitsuru felt as though his face had been set on fire as his hands clamped down—harder than necessary—on his knife.

"You didn't move it out of the way? Hm…and…what exactly is this?" Misoka opened the cloth to its full form. "It certainly is not underwear, right?"

"Yes, it is!" Mitsuru shouted before he could control himself, his body suddenly feeling extremely jumpy and jittery. '_Damn fox…he's so fucking sly, just like a damn fox!_'

Akira, who had been quiet during the interrogation, suddenly let out peels of laughter. "Mitsuru, what were you doing looking at someone's underwear? Are they Mahiru's? Do you have a crush on her?"

The aqua haired youth hissed through his teeth at his younger co-worker as Akira smiled obnoxiously. "What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you and that stupid blood-sucking vampire supposed to be on a trip?"

Misoka simply adjusted his glasses. "Well, yes, we are. Nozomu needed some extra paperwork from Oboro's office, so yes, we had to come back to pick up the necessary documents. On the other hand, Nozomu is not a blood-sucker. You must learn to respect your co-workers, understand?" Mitsuru bristled as Misoka and Akira took their leave, the younger disappeared first. As Mitsuru was turning back to his work, Misoka whistled to him. "Oiy, Mitsuru, by the way, this is not a pair of underwear—it's an apron. But thank you for confirming my already apparent suspicions."

Mitsuru felt his jaw drop as he retrieved the cloth. He practically ripped it open and indeed, it was a beautifully embroidered silk apron with heavily stitched writing across its front. In bright blue letters was the name '**Mahiru,**' and he could have sworn it looked mighty familiar. But instead of looking further into it, he shoved the apron into his pockets and went back to work, cursing the whole time. _'I really need to stop drinking those caffeinated drinks. They're making me hallucinate…damn girl…' _Nevertheless, as he moved onto the next box of CDs, he realized, in slight bewilderment for the second time that day, his fingers curling around the silky cloth in his pocket. '_Damn it all to freakin hell!_'

* * *

Mahiru blew out an embarrassed breath as the older woman returned to her, a smile of triumph on her ruby lips. "Mahiru, my dear, we had an extra. So don't worry about it, okay?"

Instead of going with the flow as the red haired woman had suggested, she sulked, her hands in her lap. "Oh…I'm so sorry Lu! I can't believe I dropped it! I was so sure it was in my bag!"

Lucy simply smiled, patting Mahiru's tousled blonde hair. "Don't worry about it girlie. Anyhow, you'd better get to serving." As Mahiru made her way towards the throng of people, Lucy shouted at her. "By the way, nice job on the make up! Good luck!"

Blushing a little as she made her way towards the crowd of people who were screaming and thrashing about, Mahiru momentarily thought about the make up she had applied. A touch of rouge to her cheeks to give them a nice pink tinge; a light splash of mauve sat comfortably on her eyes with a thin layer of black liner underneath and atop her lashes, which held a thick layer of mascara; and a dab of carnelian was spread across her lips. '_Yeah,_' she mused. '_I feel like a hooker…or a night girl…or whatever it should be called._' Pumping herself with as much enthusiasm as she possibly could, Mahiru made her way towards the first table where a man was waiting in anticipation. Bracing herself in the high heels that were already hurting her feet, Mahiru gave the man a sweet smile. "Hello sir. What can I get for you tonight?"

The man, who couldn't have been more than 30 years old, gave her a small nod. "You must be new here. I don't remember seeing your pretty face around." Mahiru blushed brightly as the man laughed. "Well, a martini on the rocks would be nice and could you give this note to Lucy for me? She and I have been meaning to talk for a while now."

Flustered, Mahiru nodded and went to her next customer, somewhat in a daze. He seemed polite enough in her mind but the rest of the crowd appeared relatively young—and boisterous. Sighing in slight frustration, Mahiru threw her shoulders back and headed towards the front of the floor where there was a particularly loud crowd of young men hitting a table. "Hello, I'll be your waitress tonight. What can I get for you?"

One of them turned to her, smiling mischievously. "I'd like a piece of ass, if it's available."

Insulted, Mahiru simply granted him with a tight lipped smile, though her head was swimming with confusion. "I'm sorry, it isn't. What would you like to drink?"

The one who had just spoken turned away, muttering obscenities. To his right, a young man with black hair nodded. "Ignore him. He just tends to get drunk fairly easily. However, he'll have Lucy's usual elixir—tell her it's for Jim—and I'll have a Long Island Iced Tea, thanks."

Glad that he was more polite and proper, she nodded before moving onto his friends. "And you, sir?" He barely looked at his, his hair hidden beneath his hat as he pointed to the menu. Mahiru strained as she leaned over his shoulder to see what he desired. He looked as though he was rather distracted for some odd reason. "Oh, a Demon Drop? Would you like it heavy on the Everclear?" He shook his head. She waited patiently for the rest of the men to order before repeating it for assurance. "So that would be Lucy's elixir, a Long Island Iced Tea, a Demon Drop, a Screwdriver and a round of Tequila shots with some Kirin Ichiban Beer. Your orders will be up in a few minutes."

"Thank you again, miss," the polite man responded. As she began walking off, the young man with black hair grabbed her wrist. "By the way, Mahiru, I didn't think you'd recognize me. But I didn't know you worked here."

She blinked as she took a closer look at the man. "Hokuto?" He smiled. "Oh! Hi, how are you?"

"Fine, and yourself?" He replied cheerily, his dark eyes dancing.

"I'm all right. I just started working here. I've been in training and today is my first real shift. I apologize for not saying hi!" She blushed profusely when he waved away her embarrassment. "Well, I'd better go get your drinks. It was nice to see you."

With that said, Mahiru disappeared behind the counter to make the drinks for the men, aware that Lucy would be making one of them. Beside her, Lucy was mixing a strange concoction as Mahiru took out the Everclear to pour into the man's Demon Drop. She felt her face aflame as she saw Hokuto and his friends watching the stage intently. She, too, was rather curious as to what was so entrancing about the stage, but she was so busy that she didn't have time to look as Hokuto's groups' drinks were placed on a tray and whisked away. She barely registered that the men had moved to a more private area, surely to discuss business affairs, Mahiru concluded. The club she was in was rather classy and private looking, a place where big business people hung out. She was looking at her schedule and organizing her work days with school when Lucy popped up beside her. Mahiru gave a slight jump as the older woman looked at the little organizer in the blonde's hands. Raising a brow, Lucy took out her own clipboard, which held a pen and what looked like and address book. Mahiru peered at it from the side of her eye, curious all of a sudden.

"What's that Lucy?" She inquired as she placed her pen down for a minute.

"I have an organizer, you know, for important notes and things. I'm still trying to get my Master's in Psychology. This place helps pay the bills so…you know how it goes," Lucy answered with a wink. "How about you?"

"More or less the same," she said as she pulled out a piece of paper from her apron. "By the way, the man over there, in the corner, asked me to give this to you. He said something about needing to talk to you."

Lucy's eyes traveled to the corner, suspiciously for a moment; however, seconds later she smiled and waved. "Thanks. By the way, that's Yama, one of my colleagues. We were supposed to get together to discuss a project last week but it didn't work out. I told him we'd talk here on my break."

With a small nod of encouragement, Mahiru sent Lucy on her way, assuring her that everything would be fine. Mahiru kept her eyes glued to her schedule as she realized that she would be working at the club Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for half the day. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday she'd be working at the record store and she would also be attending school full time. As she looked at her time sheet she frowned. '_This is going to take some work…if I want to have a life and do well in school…plus the tutor…_' She blanched when she remembered that she had yet to find a tutor. '_I need one to convince Nozomu and Father.'_ Her mind in a whirlwind, she barely had time to think when Lucy came and ushered her into the back for her to clock out. Mahiru glanced at her watch. 'Oh _no! It's already 10:30 PM! Thank gosh Nozomu isn't here to know how late I'm getting back!_' Shoving her clothes in her bag, Mahiru made a mad dash for her car. She saw a few straggling drunks exit the club doors as she drove off, but paid them no real mind as she was eager to be home and in her bed. When she arrived home she saw the message machine beeping with messages, most which were probably from Keiko and Nozomu. Instead of checking them she walked straight past the machine and into her room. Tossing her stuff on the floor, she changed into her pajamas and plopped onto the bed, hugging her pillow tightly as she fell asleep, oblivious to the message being left at that precise moment.

* * *

Mitsuru stared at the phone, willing it to break as he slammed it onto its receiver, his cheeks a brilliant shade of red. He couldn't believe he'd actually called her. He'd left a message about her piece of clothing—Misoka's orders. But what was more perturbing was the fact that she hadn't answered her phone. He'd been told by Keiko—a very reliable source—that she stayed up late and woke up late, too. But she hadn't answered her phone and it was barely 10:40 PM, which he thought was a decent time to call someone who usually stayed up until 12:00 AM on a daily basis. Cursing at the contraption, Mitsuru settled for fuming about his night at work tomorrow. '_It's Tuesday…and we're going to have a Chemistry project due soon…I just know it,_' he thought bitterly as he shot his Chemistry book a bored look. Outside he could see the moon perched high in the sky, glowing—it was a full moon. His eyes stared at it for quite some time, not sure why he was so engrossed with it. He felt like something was missing from this scene as he continued to silently watch the moon from his little bedroom. Downstairs he could hear Akira bouncing about, most likely listening to music on headphones while cleaning or cooking, whatever it was that Akira did on a daily basis. Oboro's room was silent next door as was Misoka's. Nozomu hadn't ever decided to live with them, especially since his father had remarried and Nozomu had been cursed with a little sister. At least Mitsuru thought she was a curse—at first. But lately, every little thing she did caught his eye; in class, at work, when they were walking to work, when she was doing things with Keiko—everything. It bothered him.

Sighing in annoyance and anger at how soft he was becoming in his thoughts, Mitsuru crossed his arms over his chest as he kicked his bed. '_I can't stand her!_' Just the thought of her enraged him and he had to hit his head on his desk to keep from breaking something. Defeat overtaking him, he slipped into bed, unplugging his phone incase she checked her messages within the next few minutes. As his head hit the pillow, Mitsuru could've sworn that he heard Akira answer the phone and say "Hi Mahiru" in his usual perky voice. Shutting all the noise out, the aqua haired youth buried his head under the covers as he tried to block out all thoughts of his new found infatuation. Anything that had to do with her would drive him mad, he knew. His strange attraction to her—which he denied at all ends of his logic and heart—was beginning to become apparent whether he realized it or not. He was as clueless to everything, especially the fact that Akira had been standing outside his door when Mitsuru had cursed her name in frustration.

As for the hyper active youth, his suspicions were only confirmed by what he heard. Part of him wanted to rush and alert Keiko of the news, but the clock to his left told him tomorrow might be a wiser time to do so. Even for the brown haired young man, he found the thoughts of school looming over his own head to be a tragedy as well. He was a grade below Mahiru, Keiko and Mitsuru but was in some of their classes due to his intelligence. It almost didn't feel like they were in college, especially since neither of them was yet 21. Misoka and Nozomu were 21 and over; it was expected that they did things that younger people couldn't do. Nevertheless, Akira felt like something was amiss as of the late, particularly with Mitsuru. He'd noticed certain things, and Mahiru had even mentioned it to him—she'd been working at the store for at least half the semester now. She had seemed genuinely concerned and Akira was forced to wonder what was happening with his friend. Placing the cordless on its cradle as well as his headphones on the desk near his bed, he too slipped into bed. His eyes took in the moon briefly before settling down into his own sheets, his mind occupied by his conversation with Mahiru the day before.

_"Akira, I've been meaning to ask you something," Mahiru said as she tapped his shoulder._

_"Sure, anything!" He'd replied as casually as possible while he led them to Oboro's office. Once inside, he turned to her. "What is it Mahiru?"_

_She bit her lip in nervousness as she looked around. "Um…is Mitsuru working to hard or something…? I mean…I've noticed that he's been pretty tired…and the other day well, I…I could have sworn I saw him almost collapse from cramps in his legs or something."_

_Akira blinked—he'd noticed too. Despite that, he waved his hand at her, not sure what to say about it. "No, Mitsuru is fine. He just tends to overload on the amount of boxes he carries in, sometimes. That's the most likely cause. Was that…all?"_

_Twiddling her fingers, Mahiru nodded before disappearing outside the door. Once she had gone completely, Akira peeked outside to catch a look at Mitsuru. Indeed he stood there, leaning against a stack of boxes, sweating a little too much for someone who had started working only an hour prior. Raising a brow, Akira pondered Mahiru's words, trying to decide whether he should ask Mitsuru about it or wait until Oboro returned to gather some information. Mere minutes had passed before he figured he'd wait. Sighing, he returned to work, his eyes catching a brief glimpse of Mahiru talking to Mitsuru, who looked infuriated. However, all thoughts of his co-workers died as Keiko came up to him, her smiling face clouding his thought process._

Shaking his head at the memory, Akira buried himself into his covers as sleep managed to overcome him.

* * *

To Be Continued...

_(Yay! The 3rd Chapter has been completed. I hope everyone like it, more or less. I had a lot of fun writing, despite the fact that it was somewhat difficult to accomplish. There will be more Mitsuru torture in future chapters…perhaps not in insane amounts like a humor story since this is a more mature story—at least I think it is—and it would just defeat the purpose of it. Teen Titans fic was erased from my sister's computer so…I have to go in search of a backup on my disks…hopefully it was too far along that I'm going to have to rewrite the whole damn thing. I doubt it though. Well, that's all for now. Chao. Hope you enjoyed the fic and please R&R, if you'd like. Thanks.)_

Chocomintswirl


	4. Fainting is not just a spell

_Note to Disclaimers: I do not own Crescent Moon so don't sue me. This is standard by now, I hope. If you try to sue me…then, well…that's pretty stupid as I have nothing to give anyone. NO SUEING…PWEASE! _

A/N: This fic will remain A/U and the ratings are definitely for a mature audience. There is cussing, violence and nudity to come as well as more adult themes that may offend certain people—so I advise not to read it if you are not up for it. If there are any limes/lemons, they will be posted on Also, I don't know if I mentioned the ages of the characters, but they are as follows: Mahiru, Mitsuru, Keiko are 20. Akira is 19. Nozomu is 22 and Misoka is 24. And yes, it's ok and legal—at least in my story—for Mahiru to work at the place she's working (a place that serves drinks…cough). Mahiru, Keiko and Mitsuru are in their sophomore year of college, Akira is a freshman and Nozomu and Misoka already graduated. Well, that's all. Thank you and please do enjoy.

Word Coding:

_'Thoughts' and some flashback type thingies, or possible emphasis on a word or words_

"Speaking"

Everything else

A Life best kept Secret (Chapter 4)

Barely anything that had happened that day registered in Mahiru Shiraishi's mind as she stood next to her last shelving cart; her mind felt hazy as she put all her weight against it. Her arms felt tired and sore from reaching up to place CDs in the taller shelves, her legs aching too from the strenuous amount of work she'd done. She could hear Keiko and Akira talking in the front as they ushered customers out of the store as it was closing in ten minutes. It was still enough time to shelve her small cart; enough time for her to doze off from lack of sleep, too. She'd now been working at the record store for a little over half the 2nd semester, school was in full session and she'd been working at least three times a week at her new job, mainly nights—she had the feeling she'd be working more, and soon at that. Her eyelids were feeling particularly heavy as she began to push the cart out the door, stopping momentarily to make sure she was going in the right direction. When she'd reached the proper section she immediately began placing the CDs in their correct racks, her fingers numb as she finished the first shelf. Her eyes wandered across the store to where Misoka and her brother were conversing. Nozomu had been coming around a lot since her father had left and since Oboro had suddenly disappeared for a trip out of town. She figured her brother was the one leading things with Misoka, as they both were older and seemed more experienced in this particular trade of work. As for her, she was content to keep to herself during work and ignore most of the things that occurred outside of the inventory room.

Most of those specific things had to do with Keiko, Akira, and the customers. But the one person she dreaded seeing but enjoyed working with was the one person who was always there whether she liked it or not—it all depended on the day. She sighed as she completed her last task of the day, eager to get to the back to clock in her timecard. Her mind was a blur, she had a test the next day and her eyelids were feeling even heavier than usual. She'd barely made it to the back when her eyelids drooped, which sent her cart ramming into the employee door. Coincidentally, Mitsuru was exiting the door at that moment as she slammed into it, knocking him backwards and waking her up. She fell back at the impact as Mitsuru came storming through the door, his eyes blazing like fire as he looked around for the culprit. Mahiru barely had time to gain her composure as her gaze lifted, her eyes meeting Mitsuru's angry ones.

She gasped, stuttering as she tried to give a decent apology, her hands shaking as she tried to hold herself up. Reaching for the cart, which had somehow managed to drift back towards them, Mahiru tried to regain her balance enough to stand. She had managed to lift the top half of her body when suddenly the cart was sent flying yards away by a violent kick. The cart slammed into the nearest shelf, cracking upon impact as CDs crashed to the ground, cases splintering loudly. Customer fled, screaming as the tower supporting the CDs fell to the ground, cracking; glass sprayed everywhere. In their effort to escape they trampled Akira and Keiko who were holding various vinyls in their arms as well as their cash drawers. Money went flying around them but the customers showed no interest as they fled the sight. They were terrified; Mitsuru didn't appear to care as he continued on his mini-rampage. Mahiru shuddered as she fell back again, avoiding the glare that her co-worker sent her way. She cowered as Mitsuru reached down, his hand encircling her arm and he yanked her upwards in a rough manner.

"Watch where you're going, you idiot!" Mitsuru was scowling as he looked at her. "You've been even worse than usual, knocking things over and running into things! What's the matter with you? Dumb girl, are you getting enough sleep?"

Mahiru's eyes burned with unshed tears as she recoiled in slight fear. She wasn't sure if this was all happening or if she was suffering from sleep deprivation; either way, Mahiru suddenly felt like invisible walls were closing in on her as she pushed away from Mitsuru, her hands shielding her face. He was scaring her. "It's nothing…I…please, just get away from me!"

At her pleading, frightened tone, Mitsuru's eyes widened, his shining chocolate orbs losing their fiery glaze as he let go of her arm. Mahiru stumbled back, her balance wobbly as she backed up against a nearby shelf. He took a step forward, half curious as to why she'd acted in such a way, half in apology. He felt as though something was not right, and despite how much he disliked her, he ventured forward a little more to help her. As he stuck his hand out someone shot past him at an alarming speed, reaching Mahiru before he could. Mitsuru glared as he saw her slump against her brother's chest. Nozomu cradled his little sister to him as she clung to his shirt with her small hands. He'd suspected for a while that there had been something going on with her, though he wasn't sure just what it was. However, with all the commotion that had just occurred, his suspicions were confirmed. Bidding a quick farewell to the infuriated youth, to the bouncy young boy and Mahiru's friends, he swept her up in his arms and made for his car. On the way out, Misoka eyed the young woman with a curious but knowing nature that Nozomu had become accustomed to. Nodding to him one last time, Nozomu disappeared through the door.

* * *

Mahiru rolled over in her bed, arms blocking the intrusive rays of sunlight that entered her window through the opened blinds. There was a dull ache in her temples, a throbbing which she didn't quite remember having prior to sleeping. Her eyes were bleary as she turned to her left, her eyes adjusting to the brightness about the room. Immediately she saw the figure of her brother to her left, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed at her. Feeling her face flush from embarrassment, Mahiru looked the other way, her eyes meeting Keiko's worried gaze. Sitting up as slowly and carefully as she possibly could, the young blonde haired girl found herself grasping her head in slight pain. She blinked. "Nozomu, Keiko…what happened?"

Keiko grabbed her hand, soothing it between her own. "Mahiru, you fainted! Is something the matter?"

Mahiru shook her head. "Um…not really…I guess I've been overdoing it a little…"

"You've been lying to us, haven't you Mahiru?" His voice was just above a whisper. "You've been working two jobs, haven't you? Father would be very upset."

She shook her head slowly. "No, I've just been very busy at school brother. There is no need to worry too much. I just have to take better care of myself this time around. I'm not working two jobs—I have no need to."

He threw her a skeptical look before nodding his head slowly in agreement. "Well, could you tone it down a bit? You gave everyone quite a scare today."

"We were all so worried…even Mitsuru," Keiko said with a small smile.

"She rolled her eyes. "I'll bet…worried I'd come back to work."

Nozomu gave her a small, reassuring smile. However, his suspicions did not fade as he exited through her bedroom door, allowing the two young women to speak amongst themselves. Nothing ever went away that easily, at least not without Nozomu investigating first. Outside, he spotted Misoka, Akira and Mitsuru lounging about the living room; uncertainty laced the air, thick like a blanket. Misoka had followed shortly after Mahiru was taken home, per Nozomu's unspoken request. Naturally, Akira had inquired about coming and the store was, therefore, closed early. Most customers saw the incident and understood right away, much to their relief. As for Mitsuru, he was pretty much dragged on the trip, kicking in screaming as much as possible without actually doing so. Misoka's eyes were questioning Nozomu curiously as Akira bounced on the balls of his feet in anxiety. Mitsuru, however, was off to the side, rolling his eyes every other minute or so while his arms remained across his chest. When Nozomu stepped outside only Misoka and Akira had even glanced in his direction to acknowledge him—Mitsuru simply blinked. Leaning against the nearest wall, Nozomu let out s steady breath as he signaled for them to listen to him.

"She's all right. She's just been working a little too hard at school and not taking care of herself properly. It all adds up to a perfectly logical explanation, I'd say. No need to worry." He still seemed anxious about something though.

As soon as he'd finished, Akira pounced him. "Can we go see her again?"

"She's resting now, I think. Keiko should be out in a few minutes." Nozomu replied.

Misoka gently touched the hyperactive youth's shoulder. "It is best if we let her rest." As Akira nodded, Misoka's gaze flew back to Mitsuru who was slowly walking out of the living room, his gait stiff. When he'd almost reached the door, Misoka could've sworn he saw a small smile on the young man's lips; he never could resist teasing his co-worker. "Mitsuru, don't you want to stay here and have dinner once Mahiru awakens? I'm sure it would cheer her up if everyone was here, don't you agree?"

If looks could kill, then Misoka would be straight dead from Mitsuru's glare. The aqua haired youth stiffened visibly as he turned away from the sly fox like man, wanting anything but to be in Mahiru's house. He could feel Akira's expectant look on his back as well as Nozomu's suspicion one; Misoka's smirk made him want to scream. However, the momentary silence that reigned in the living room was short lived when they all head the bedroom door to Mahiru's room slowly click closed, signaling Keiko's departure and Mahiru's resuming off sleep. When Keiko entered the living room she simply shook her head at the display of tension, rolling her eyes as she made her way to the kitchen. As she was halfway through the door, she turned around, her face appearing slightly amused. Misoka nodded, Akira winked and bounded after her while Nozomu kept staring at Mitsuru's back, his eyes narrowed. Seconds later the tension was gone as Misoka exited and Nozomu went to the bathroom, leaving Mitsuru to himself in the abandoned living area. He allowed his shoulders to sag a little as he slumped against the doorframe, his eyelids feeling heavy as he relaxed for a minute. And it truly was a minute before he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. He whipped around only to come face to face with Keiko, her eyes narrowed like Nozomu's and her fists clenched. He blinked again.

"What?"

"Don't you want to go visit Mahiru? She isn't asleep just yet. You're the only one who hasn't seen her yet, Suou," Keiko asked.

Mitsuru waved her away. "Why would I want to see that stupid girl anyway? She's so klutzy…she probably shouldn't come back to work anyway. I don't really care." As he turned to walk away he felt a surprisingly strong grip on his arm. His eyes widened when he saw Keiko giving him the ultimate death glare, her eyes fiery and lips scowling. "Let go of me or—"

"No, you listen to me Mitsuru Suou!" She whispered furiously as she practically began dragging him with her, not caring whether he was about to kill her or not for violating his private space. "You will go see Mahiru! You like her, so don't deny it! And if you do this one thing, then Akira and I will not spill your secret to her!"

Mitsuru jerked away, angry. "I do not like her! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! She's the most annoying person I've ever met! You can't boss me around."

If it was possible for her to get any scarier, then Mitsuru was lucky he wasn't the victim that day. Instead, she sighed heavily as she slowly opened the door. She looked at him expectantly, and he would've continued to refuse had Nozomu, Akira and Misoka not come to ask what the commotion was about. Misoka stared at him knowingly while Akira latched onto Keiko's arm. Feeling as though he had no choice, Mitsuru proceeded through Mahiru's bedroom door, though not without some dread running through him accompanied by nervous tingles in his spine. As the door closed, he cursed at Keiko's obvious smirk of triumph and Misoka's sly grin. And contrary to Keiko's provided answer, Mahiru was in fact fast asleep in her bed, covers stopping halfway up her midsection, which was somewhat bare as her pajama had ridden up. Mitsuru blushed brightly as he approached her bed, feeling like a pervert for seeing such a sight even if they were in college and there wasn't much shown. He took another hesitant step towards her bed and almost had a heart attack when the plush carpet gave a loud groan that sounded like old wood being stepped on. '_Is there wood under this?_' His thought was short lived when he heard a ruffling of covers as Mahiru rolled over, her arm flying over her forehead and covers falling completely off the bed, leaving her form exposed to his wandering eyes.

Instantly, his eyes flew to where her legs lay nude save for her small pair of pajama shorts. His face reddened ten-fold as she sighed and rolled over again until she was facing him, her eyes still closed and breathing even. He let out a shaky breath as he kneeled next to her bed, his mind in a whirlwind as he brought a hand to sit upon her sheets. He suddenly felt as though he was in a fairy tale, getting to watch a famous princess sleeping while everyone else was not allowed to witness her peaceful beauty. '_Peaceful beauty?__ What the fuck?_' Shaking his head, he tried to rid himself of the thoughts that didn't quite fit in his head and made him want to do highly inappropriate things with his co-worker. '_But I don't like her, not at all!_' He repeated over and over again in his head, trying to convince himself that he was not the least bit attracted to the blonde before him. His eyebrows were knitted together in deep thought as he stayed in place, his thought wandering until he was pulled back to reality by Mahiru's sleepy gaze and fingers on his hand. He almost gasped at her look but found his breath would not come, nor would words or reactions as she began speaking.

"Mitsuru…are you all right?" Her voice held sleepiness as she slowly lifted herself on one elbow, her hair mussed and eyes still half-closed. When he did not answer, Mahiru leaned forward a little. "Mitsuru…are you…in there? Mitsuru?"

Magically, he snapped back into reality as her hand came to his face. "What?" He replied softly, so softly that she had to lean in more to hear him. His eyes widened when he realized she was mere inches from his face; so close he could feel her warm breath on his skin. Normal, cool, distant Mitsuru was gone the moment he felt this; his eyes slid closed as he relished in the feeling of having her so close. "What?" He breathed out again, his voice trembling.

Mahiru's eyes widened in surprise as he opened his chocolate colored spheres to stare into her curious eyes. She didn't understand how or why it happened, but the next thing she knew, their lips were slowly moving forward to meet. Whether he'd initiated it or not, she didn't care as she leaned forward a little more, feeling Mitsuru's hand come up to cup her face as her hand slid through his soft aqua colored locks. Their lips has almost touched lips when the moment was interrupted, however, by a loud knock resounding from outside. Snapping apart so fast, Mitsuru barely had time to straighten himself out when Akira burst into the room, Keiko in tow. Mahiru had rolled over immediately, feigning sleep although her cheeks were tinted an amazing shade of red. For his part, Mitsuru managed to appear nonchalant as he stood before them, arms crossed and lips in a large frown. Keiko glanced from Mahiru's supposedly sleeping form to the irritated young man's stance, her eyes darting back in forth with apparent suspicion. Nevertheless, she had no time to ask questions as Mitsuru huffed obnoxiously before disappearing through the doorway. Mahiru didn't move as she heard Keiko whisper something inaudible to Akira before the pair, too, disappeared through the entrance. Once everyone had gone and the footsteps receded down the hall, Mahiru brought a finger to her lips, running it idly across the surface. She could still feel Mitsuru's, the tingle from his lips on her own, sending a pleasant thrill through her senses as she closed her eyes.

'_What just…happened?_' Her mind was going a million miles a second as she tried to recall what had just occurred minutes ago, prior to the commotion. '_Was he actually…going to kiss me?_' Her thoughts did not stop there as she sat up in bed, brow knitted in obvious confusion and curiosity. Something about the situation seemed strange, especially the fact that he had even bothered to come visit her—he must have been forced, she surmised. She could not, for reasons unknown, believe that he had come to visit her willingly—he hated her, she knew. She was wringing her hands when she heard voices whispering outside her door, probably in the hallway right next to it or a little ways down from her room. Tip-toeing as quietly as possible, she made her way to the door, pressing her ear against it to listen. She could clearly hear the voices of Nozomu and Misoka conversing with Keiko and Akira; they were discussing future business trips. She scowled; Nozomu was hardly ever home anymore. She practically molded herself to the door, eager to hear more about what was going to happen to her and her job, or jobs, rather. Not that anyone else knew. She listened.

"Misoka and I have been requested to attend a conference in three days time, and with what just happened…" Nozomu's words trailed off as Misoka stepped in.

"We will be attending the conference as it is mandatory that we do so, and quite crucial for the business. Oboro knows this but will not return for another two or three weeks. In the meantime, I trust you and Keiko will take care of things with Mitsuru, and keep and eye out, right?" Misoka stared at him through his shaded glasses.

Akira nodded enthusiastically. "What about—"

"Misoka, I don't know if this is such a good idea. Mahiru just fainted and I'm worried that she's lying to me. I don't think I can go on this next business trip," Nozomu said with worry.

Keiko shook her head. "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of everything. We all know that your dad's company is crucial to the record store flourishing, so we'll keep an eye on Mahiru. Nothing like this will happen again. If I find anything out, I'll let you know. We're all just as worried about her as you are."

Nozomu glanced around, silently wondering what Misoka would say. His thought was answered when Misoka readjusted his glasses frame, his lips in a thin smirk. "I'm sure Ms. Shiraishi will be just fine, Nozomu. I trust Ms Himura and Akira will take good care of her in our absence." He looked towards the door, suddenly, and on the other side, Mahiru froze at the eerie feeling crawling up her spine. "And if she happens to try anything suspicious, I believe we shall know. Otherwise, I'd have to say, she's putting extra effort into hiding whatever secret it is we think she is keeping, am I correct?"

Akira and Keiko nodded in agreement while Nozomu threw Misoka a sly look, his eyes shining. If there was one thing Nozomu appreciated about Misoka's cool nature, it was that he always knew what was really going on and kept a level head in serious situations—for the most part. Shaking his head, the blonde haired young man nodded in approval as he ushered his two younger co-workers out of the room, mentioning something about Mahiru being hungry when she would awaken. As soon as they had gone, Nozomu feel against the wall, a tired sigh escaping his mouth as he looked up at the flat, smooth ceiling above. Misoka snickered knowingly as he, too, leaned against the wall beside his distraught friend. The silence was comfortable enough while the two long time friends continued to stare at the white, hospital like surface above their heads; Nozomu chuckled. He turned to his shorter friend, his eyes dancing with wonder as he continued to chuckle. Misoka glanced at him, his eyebrows raised in amusement as the blonde choked himself from laughter.

"Nozomu, is something funny?"

He shook his head. "No, but I know you're hiding something from me. You know what's really going on, don't you? You always do."

"It is nothing serious," Misoka answered. "Your sister is working herself too hard, just as she said."

Shaking his head, the so-called bloodsucker made his way towards the kitchen. "Come on, I think we should eat something now." At Misoka's nod they proceeded to the small kitchen where Akira's famous cooking drifted to their noses.

From inside her room, Mahiru gulped at the conversation that had just taken place, her mind no longer jumbled but filled with anxiety. '_Oh no…they're suspicious…_' As she fell back against her bed frame she became determined to keep it more of a secret than ever. '_If Misoka doesn't say anything…well, they're going to be gone…Keiko and Akira had no idea before…I'll be fine! But I have to work harder at this._' Wringing her hands, Mahiru let out a deep sigh as she moved to her dresser to put on her pajama pants and a less revealing shirt. Slipping her slippers onto her feet, Mahiru braced herself as she padded down the length of the carpeted hallway where she could hear everyone talking about how wonderful the food smelled. She had to agree as soon as the aroma hit her nose. As soon as she stepped into the kitchen she felt dizzy and fell towards the nearest chair. She smiled up at Akira, who had caught her with careful ease as he placed her in the chair. When she had settled in and it appeared as though she was functioning fine, Akira whined about serving their plates and fussing over Mahiru's condition like a mother. Keiko laughed at this, her eyes going slightly dreamy as she watched him with sudden interest. Mahiru noticed this and did her best not to chuckle or bit her lip in concern as Hokuto popped into her mind. Remembering her first night working at the bar had been embarrassing; she blushed for no apparent reason.

However, her attention was brought back by the delicious smell of her edibles, which Mahiru could not resist. In that moment she realized how hungry she'd been and practically inhaled her food. Everyone at the table eyed her in a funny manner as she wolfed down her food as if it would disappear. Whether she decided that she was going to stop eating so ravenously was something she left up to her body, not her subconscious mind. She'd been feeling starved for a very long time. After gulping down the remaining food on her plate, Mahiru sighed in contentment and slid back in her chair, comfortable. From his corner of the table Mitsuru let out an amused snort as he took his utensils and slowly chewed his own food, his mind replaying Mahiru's show of hunger in his head. Akira just stared at her with his mouth open, not believing what he'd just seen while Keiko looked bored all of a sudden. Nozomu gave her a wary look and Misoka simply kept eating, his chopsticks fluid and precise as he picked up small pieces of curry chicken. Silence ensued for mere moments until Mahiru let out a very loud burp followed by a quick "excuse me" to the rest of the table as her cheeks flushed scarlet.

Keiko laughed as she patted her friend's back. "Wow Mahiru, I had no idea how hungry you were."

Mahiru giggled in a carefree manner. "I'm sorry, that was rude. But yeah, I haven't had food this good since my dad left."

Nozomu scowled. "My cooking is not that bad Mahiru."

"You hardly ever cook, brother," she mused nonchalantly as she scraped her plate of curry sauce. At this statement, Misoka raised a brow while Akira and Keiko laughed wildly. Mitsuru scowled as Mahiru hugged her brother, a smile on her delicate face. "I know Nozomu, I know. You try. I thank you for taking such good care of me in father's absence." She glanced at her watch as she attempted to stifle another yawn, her fatigue suddenly overcoming her once again. "I'm sorry. I'm very tired again. Would you mind if I slept some more, brother? I want to go back to work as soon as possible."

He frowned as she did not wait for an answer, instead heading to her room while assuming he'd said yes. In all actuality he couldn't rightly say no; she was twenty years old, after all. Shaking his head, he waited until her door clicked shut before turning back to her friends. "Keep a close eye on her, please. I don't want this incident repeated."

"Don't worry about it Nozomu, it'll be fine," Keiko reassured as she pushed past Akira to continue talking to him about it in a separate room.

Once they had disappeared, Akira starting clearing dishes into the sink, slowly. Mitsuru seemed bored by this, his head hanging on the back of his chair, hair falling in his eyes. Misoka shifted his own eyes to the youth who was amazingly calm and quiet at the precise moment of chaos; something was not right. They could hear Keiko and Nozomu talking but what they talked about was unknown to all ears but their own. Akira shook his head solemnly as he vanished into the kitchen, dishes in his arms. Mitsuru sighed heavily as he came to, his eyes traveling to the window in evident annoyance as he began to stand up. He had made it halfway to the living room door, his gait tense, when he heard his name called. He cringed at the voice, his irritation coming back ten-fold as he turned to see Misoka standing in the doorway, smirking. Growling like never before, Mitsuru tried to appear nonchalant—he failed, as usual. "What is it?"

"Where are you going? It isn't time to leave yet."

"And who said I need to wait for you? The store still has to be fixed up before anyone can start working again. There are CDs all over the floor, one of the carts is broken and the cashier area is in shambles from—"

Misoka shot him a rather irritated glare, though the effect was lost because of his glasses—nevertheless, Mitsuru could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. "If I recall, Mitsuru, you are the one that caused such chaos. Do not try to make it seem as though the blame belongs on someone else." His smirked grew wider. "I agree that the place needs fixing, and you're right. Who better to fix it than the one who caused such a mess?"

Mitsuru felt like his blood was boiling as he gripped the doorknob tighter than possible. With a defiant huff he slammed the door, not caring what broke, who heard the slam or what the consequences were for his rebellious actions. Inside, watching him intently and sadly as he stalked away from the house, Mahiru let out a small squeak when the door had slammed. Upon seeing the angered youth walking away from the house, she sunk deeper onto her window sill. As much as she disliked working with Mitsuru, she knew she would be lying if she denied any harbored feelings for her co-worker. When it happened, she still didn't know. Of course she knew she'd been attracted to him from the moment he'd came into her line of view, from the moment she'd run into him at the record store—but when did she actually start to like him? '_Well…we have been working together for some time now…_' Yet this reason seemed insufficient in her own rational mind because the hardly ever talked. _'Maybe I'm infatuated with him _because _I don't know him…_' She knew she wanted to get to know Mitsuru; he was so mysterious and it did not seem like he had any friends. There had to be a reason, at least in her mind there had to be one. Sighing for the second time in a minute, Mahiru found herself watching his fading figure until it became a dot in the horizon. '_I'll get to know more about you Mitsuru Suou…I swear it,_' she vowed as she crawled back into her bed. '_And I'm starting with school tomorrow_.'

* * *

The next morning found the tired blonde laying still in her bed, eyes half closed as she searched the room for her annoying alarm clock, which was ringing loudly. '_Nozomu must not be here if he hasn't come in to shut it off_,' she thought as she found it sitting underneath her lamp desk. With nimble fingers she reached out and shut the switch off, her eyes blinking wearily as she rubbed the sleep from them. However, her yawn, which was barely coming out, was short lived when she realized what time it was. '_OH NO! It CAN'T be __8:00__ already! I'm SO late!_' Rushing in a manner she didn't think possible, Mahiru threw on the nearest and cleanest pair of clothes she could find, grabbed her backpack and rushed downstairs. She barely glanced at the keys sitting on the bar as she dashed out of the house, figuring taking the car was not worth the traffic. As she waited by the bus stop, she pondered whether it was a good idea to take it or try walking. '_Well, walking WOULD take longer_,' she realized. Therefore, when the bus pulled up next to her on the barren sidewalk, she hopped in. Without thinking more of it, Mahiru seated herself next to the window. She was surprised to see only a trickle of people. Of course, most students didn't take the bus to school; their parents gave them rides.

But Mahiru's dad hadn't ever been around enough so it was buses, friends, or Nozomu who took her to school. As she stared out the window she contemplated what she would do to get Mitsuru to talk to her, to open up. For a split second her mind drew a blank, her thought process stunted as she gripped her bag absently. Suddenly her sweater felt to think, her hair too stringy, her body too adolescent. '_Am I...feeling insecure?_' She blushed as she looked down at her skirt, which stopped mid thigh–it looked so short all of a sudden. Her shirt seemed tighter and even her lip gloss was bright, though the color was pale pink. She'd entered the realm of self-consciousness; she felt embarrassed. '_Does Mitsuru...ever look at me in any other way other than disgust?_' Shaking the thoughts from her head, Mahiru thanked the bus driver as she departed the vehicle, pulling her sweater tighter about her, involuntarily. The school entrance doors loomed over her, tall and ominous–but the grounds were empty, for the most part. Puzzled, she dialed Keiko's number and waited patiently as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Keiko, where are you? Am I really late?"

"What are you talking about? It's 7:30 AM, Mahiru. I'm barely leaving my house," Keiko answered, disgruntled.

"WHAT?" Mahiru almost dropped her phone from sheer surprise. She'd been so involved in getting to school that she hadn't really looked at the clock. Her watch read 7:31 AM. She gasped. "Hello? Keiko, how far away are you?"

"Two minutes," she replied in a mumble.

"I'll see you here then," Mahiru chirped as she hung up, trying to feel relief, not betrayal. '_I bet Nozomu changed my clock on purpose...evil brother!_' Brushing it off as carefree as possible Mahiru made her way through the gates to sit down on the nearest bench. She had work later that night, but she knew she'd have to call Lucy to let her know she wasn't going to be able to make it. '_And I have to reset my clock,_' she thought, absently. Mere seconds later she sighed in relief as Keiko's limousine came to a smooth, rolling stop before the college grounds. Most people were probably still in class anyway. Once Keiko had stepped out and closed the door, they both watched as the sleek, black automobile drove away. Mahiru was all smiles until Keiko turned around; she appeared troubled, upset and angry. Her entire aura had taken on a dark feel and Mahiru shivered; an angry Keiko Himura was indeed something to fear. However, she took her chances, slim as they were. "Keiko, is everything all right?"

The green haired girl snorted. "Fine, fine. Another rough morning is all," she replied. "How are you Mahiru? Up early, aren't you?"

At this Mahiru's look darkened. "Nozomu reset my clock!"

Keiko giggled. "I thought you'd be relieved. Aren't you doing horribly in Mr. Shiatsaz class anyway? Oh, how's tutoring?"

"Ugh...don't remind me," Mahiru whined. "Tutoring is long and b-ooo-o-ring! I'd rather sleep or eat...or something else..."

Both girls burst into peels of laughter as students began filing out of the buildings. Keiko grinned. "Come on, class is going to start in ten minutes and you know how fast Ms. Clarise's class fills up. I want a good seat today." As they ascended the stairs to the third floor, Keiko tapped her chin, thoughtfully. "Oh, did you see Mitsuru today?"

Mahiru shook her head, annoyed. "No, but he has class with us so he must be coming...unless he wants a low mark! Ms. Clarise doesn't ever go easy on anyone. We might even have a pop quiz."

Once again, Keiko laughed. "Are you still upset?"

Mahiru blushed. "Oh...no, it's not that...it's nothing."

"I disagree but I know better than to push you, Shiraishi," Keiko answered as she took a seat in the middle. Mahiru followed suit but paused near the back. "Mahiru, are you sitting by me?"

"No," Mahiru said, her eyes focused elsewhere. "I'm...going to sit back there."

"Where?" Keiko followed her gaze to the back until it landed on a head of aquamarine colored hair. Mitsuru was pressed against his desk, eyes glued to the window while his arms lay across his chest, looking stiff. Keiko watched as Mahiru made her way towards him, seemingly in a daze. She wanted to laugh at Mahiru's focus but was interrupted when Akira bounced over to her in an excited rush. All thoughts of Mahiru were forgotten.

"Can I sit here?"

Mitsuru looked up from his brooding, his glare fixed upon Mahiru's uneasy face. "Why? Isn't it enough that you annoy me at work? Now school?"

She rolled her eyes as she fell into the seat next to him. "Gee Mitsuru, thanks."

He huffed. "I didn't agree–"

"Shove it," she snapped as she opened her literature book, ignoring his furious stare. "Did you do your homework? Ms. Clarise is going to give us a pop quiz, I bet."

He opened his mouth to retort when Ms. Clarise slapped her hand against her desk, eyes alight. "Pop quiz, class! Hurry, hurry! A pen and paper on your desks would be wonderful before I start it!"

"Told you," Mahiru replied.

"I didn't study," he whispered, his stunned look fading to anger misdirected towards her.

"Well," she answered. "You should have." Her remorse and sympathy had vanished.

He stared at her in complete awe, which evolved into pure despair when Ms. Clarise plopped a thin sheet of paper on his desk. The sheet was littered with only three questions, most which were about their reading from last night. At first panic laced through Mitsuru's being at the thought of failing—he couldn't afford to at any cost; but when he remembered who the author was he smiled. '_At least I'm familiar with __Hawthorne_' He'd read enough Nathaniel Hawthorne to save his life; he wasn't sure if he could say the same for Mahiru as she struggled to answer the questions. He was done in five minutes. Though he couldn't say she was an excellent student, he had known Mahiru to study and read her homework, and the fact that she was having trouble was curious. Angling himself towards the window, Mitsuru watched her from the corner of his eye while wondering why he quiz was taking more than 10 minutes. At least Ms. Clarise was giving them 15 minutes to actually complete it.

Mahiru appeared as though she was having a hard time focusing on what to write, whether from boredom, not studying or not sleeping, Mitsuru couldn't say. He decided with boredom as she was consistently bored in classes throughout their Tuesday/Thursday schedule. Taking all one's classes in two days every week was rather tiring, and she didn't appear to be used to it just yet. In fact, Mitsuru knew she wasn't because he had been doing it for four years and the effects still had yet to lessen their hold on him. Nevertheless, he disagreed with his thoughts the minute they tried to settle merely for the fact that he realized Literature was Mahiru's favorite subject in school. In chemistry and History it was easy for her to doze off—it was flat out boring for him even. And in Calculus he could see why anyone would become stupefied and disinterested—math just did that to you, unless you were TRYING to become a mathematician. That left her with Literature. He found Chemistry more interesting, personally, though Literature had its comforting ways with him.

Sighing loudly, he shifted to face her when he found her hand swiping his quiz off his desk as she sauntered up to the teacher's table. He watched, with a vague interest, as Ms. Clarise stopped Mahiru with a dazzling smile, asking how she was feeling. Mahiru began chatting in a hushed voice as people started finishing up their quizzes. Mitsuru fell back into boredom, Mahiru forgotten. As for her, she gave Ms. Clarise a small smile as the woman talked to her about possible internships and learning experiences for the summer—it was only four months away and finals were coming up. She remembered when she had time to do extra things; she'd received her job at the club about a week after finals ended. Therefore it hadn't interfered with her school schedule or her work schedule. But now anything sounding like more work made her nervous. Waving her hand in thanks Mahiru all but accepted the job, nodding every now and then at her teacher's eagerness. As she turned to walk back to her seat, she heard Ms. Clarise whisper her name one more time. "Yes, Ms. Clarise?"

"Mahiru, dear, please come here once again. I need to ask you one more thing," she replied in a soft whisper.

Glancing around, Mahiru realized no one was even paying attention to them. Gulping, she returned to the desk where Ms. Clarise's hazel eyes shone with worry. "Please…tell your father not to worry about anything. I am taking care of it. You'll do that, won't you, Mahiru?"

Puzzled, she nodded. '_Did I…have an unknown parent conference? Oh…YEAH! I was totally failing chemistry…and Ms. Clarise is my student advisor…how embarrassing!_' She gave her another nervous smile as she made her way back towards her seat by Mitsuru, who was looking even more bored than before. When she finally sat down Mitsuru gave her an obnoxious glare, which she ignored as she opened up her textbook, leafing through the pages until she landed on their reading assignment for the night. '_Hm…__Dickinson__…I don't know if I like all her stuff_.' This year, she had decided to take a mixture of courses, as cultural as she could get. She was taking English Literature, Japanese Language to improve her literary skills, Calculus, African History and General Chemistry with Botany. Overall, the relevance of her schedule was minute—she was taking general education for the most part. But she found it strange that the only class she did not have Mitsuru in was her African History class. '_But that's because he's taking Psychology_.' She was sure the rest of her class was going to drag on in boredom when she read the first line of Emily's first poem. '_No, I most definitely do not like Dickinson_.' Mind made up, Mahiru closed her book and stared out the window as Ms. Clarise began her lecture, droning on in her ear. Mitsuru was content to listen as much as he could. Neither of them really cared, and the clock continued its slow ticking the rest of the morning.

* * *

The air was permeated only by the annoying sound of cars passing them by as Mahiru and Mitsuru made their way to work that afternoon. It was a relief from the boring day of classes they'd had and all three of them were eager to get away from the college campus. Mahiru stretched as she walked a little faster to keep up with Keiko while Mitsuru dragged behind them, hands in his pockets and face glancing at the passing cars. It was unusually busy for a Tuesday afternoon, and none of them remembered it being National Carpool day, which was the one day _no one_ seemed to carpool at all. Digging her own hands into her jean pockets Mahiru made of small show of looking around for something, earning Keiko's attention . "What is it, Mahiru?"

"Um…aren't we forgetting someone?"

"Hey, you guys were supposed to wait for me after class!" A voice shouted from behind them.

Keiko turned red while Mitsuru paused and Mahiru laughed. "AKIRA!" Mahiru jerked around and ran to him, briefly looking at Mitsuru as she passed him. "I knew we were missing someone."

"How could you forget?" He queried, his face pink from running but his voice full of laughter and energy as always.

"We're not used to waiting for you. It was a mistake I apologize for," Mahiru replied with a small smile, dragging him to where Keiko was waiting, speechless. "Hey, why don't you two go ahead? I have something to ask Mitsuru." Not waiting for an answer, the young blonde went straight to where the irritated youth was standing, looking rather intimidating. "Mitsuru, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"What about?" He sounded indifferent.

"Um…" she searched her mind for the right way to bring up the incident but was left groping for proper words. "About the…thing…that happened in my room?"

"Whatever," he spat out, his cheeks slightly pink. "I don't even know what you're talking about dumb girl."

Ignoring his patronizing tone she pressed on. "I know you do, liar. Stop acting like nothing happened."

"Nothing did happen you idiot," he answered, more annoyed than before. "Don't ruin my day."

"I couldn't possibly ruin your day, you big meanie…you'll ruin it yourself!" Her reply was sharp as she stuck her nose up at him and marched off to where Keiko and Akira were talking wildly. '_The nerve of him acting like he didn't try to kiss me!' _Immediately her fingers flew to her lips and she turned around for the briefest of moments. She gasped when she saw him looking right at her and her fingers, which still lingered on her lips. His deep, dark chocolate colored eyes were intense as he continued walking at an even pace, eyes never leaving her own. He wasn't going to look away, she realized. Blushing madly, she was the first to turn away, eyes cast to the ground in an attempt to ignore the piercing stare she'd received only moments ago. Her heart was hammering in her chest, confusion bubbling beneath the surface of her veins like fire, itching to take over her whole body. Shivering as a cool breeze washed over the four of them, she could only grip her sweater tighter as the store came into view. Her fingers felt warm despite the cool air that rushed out at them when Keiko opened the door. Cursing her obnoxious hormones and heart, Mahiru rationalized enough to the point where she felt slightly comfortable again. Inhaling a deep breath, she made her way to the back storage area with the awareness that Mitsuru was not following her. Once inside she fell flat upon the latest shipment of CDs as the goosebumps on her skin receded. She wasn't sure what had just happened but it felt awful and wonderful at the same time. Hugging herself in slight fear, Mahiru fell to her knees. '_What's happening to me?_'

* * *

To Be Continued...

_(Chapter 4 is completed. Yes .I hope you al enjoyed it because you know, I really had fun with this one! This is one my more serious fics, despite the Mitsuru torture in it, and the themes are mature and the ratings are higher and the language is mature—it's a mature fanfic. So, I hope everyone is not disappointed that I'm making it so. Since the setting is in college it goes along the lines of college life and believe me, the lives they are living are modeled after people I personally have known or know. I hope I don't offend anybody with the upcoming chapters. Well, that's all for now. Chao. Hope you enjoyed the fic and please R&R, if you'd like. Thanks.)_

Chocomintswirl


	5. Hints of something more

_Note to Disclaimers: I do not and never will own Crescent Moon, so please do NOT sue me. I have nothing to give you all, absolutely nothing. I own nothing except my college education…and even that, well…I don't really OWN it. So…you have been informed. All Crescent Moon things belong to their rightful owners…except for this story and some of its ideas—they're mine. Please don't steal them. Thank you._

**A/N: Not much to say here except that it's STILL an Adult A/U fanfiction. It will eventually be NC-17 (meaning M, for Mature) in a few chapters, maybe Rated-R (meaning T here) in a few others. Maybe some Lime but no Lemon on You'll have to go to for that. Well, don't flame me for rated-anything content. I warned you. Thank you and enjoy.**

Word Coding:

'_Thoughts'_

"Speaking"

Everything else

**A Life Best Kept Secret (Chapter five)**

Annoyed, Mahiru wiped at the small bead of sweat that slid down the corner of her temple as she collapsed against her bed frame. Sighing heavily, she sank deeper into the confines of her plushy, blue carpet, enthralled that she was getting something done, though it made her tired. Her room was a disaster area, needless to say. She'd been up early on Saturday morning moving furniture around, throwing out clothes and reorganizing her room, entirely. After all, midterms were coming up and she decided that she needed a clean, open area to study. Her mind worked better that way. Brushing stray bangs from her eyes, she let out a steady breath while she put her arms over her head, exhausted. '_But I still have so much to move…_' In reality, she'd only moved about 1/3 of her room, which mainly consisted of her bed and clothes. Her dresser still needed moving, her closet needed cleaning and her carpet needed vacuuming as well as shampooing. Shaking her head, she fell flat on her back in irritation, boredom surfacing as she resorted to rhythmic breathing patterns to calm her nerves. Her muscles felt a little sore and her feet hurt just a bit—she was still getting used to the heels. After a few more minutes of steady breathing she rolled onto her side in curiosity, wondering when Nozomu would return since he was, supposedly, back from his business trip.

It had been at least another three days since they'd been gone and she began wondering why the trips were becoming so frequent. '_Is it really that necessary?_' She knew little of business management, and so decided that those decisions were best made by those who knew the business. But nevertheless, something felt a little fishy to her, and she didn't like it, not one bit. Huffing as she sat up, Mahiru made a beeline straight for the door in order to retrieve a cool drink from downstairs. Normally she'd have Nozomu help her move her room around, as she did it whenever boredom struck; but he wasn't there, and Keiko would be the last person to ask. She'd been awfully busy dealing with Hokuto as of the late, not to mention her many visits to Akira's house. '_I could've asked Akira,_' she mused as a side thought. It was short lived, however, when she realized that he had said something about going out for Milk tea with Keiko before working. She'd received the day off since Midterms were coming up and she needed to do some "things" that couldn't wait. This wasn't true, by any means; but no one questioned her otherwise. She didn't dare ask Mitsuru for fear that he'd scream his response of "No" straight at her face. '_And who needs THAT kind of stress in their day? I have to do this myself_.'

It seemed like everything she did lately had to be done on her own. She hardly ever asked for help anymore, even from Nozomu. It felt as though the world was going to be hers, at this rate. But did she want the whole world? '_Well, I want MY whole world…and that's it._' Though things seemed to be going her way, she did get curious of when things would blow up in her face. '_Plans like this can only last so long…especially with my bad luck…but I'm going to make this one work_.' Plucking a can of strawberry sweetened tea from her fridge, she let the door slam as she leaned against the counter, her eyes focused outside. Kids were screaming and laughing as the cool October air drifted around them. Halloween was coming up and she still hadn't decided what she was going to do. A summer had come and gone, and no one suspected anything about her double job status; therefore when the new semester of her third year in college rolled around and Lucy came knocking about continuing her job, she said yes. '_If no one knew then, then no one will know now._' Of course, she hadn't quite considered that she'd done the job for a little over four months the semester prior, and that she'd have to be doing all year this time around. But she was confident in her ability to multitask and figured she definitely could do it. So the job and hectic schedule stayed. She was not used to it at all. She had attended her first year of college somewhere else, somewhere in the East Coast of the United States before transferring over to her new college in California. She'd lived on the east coast her entire life, in the middle of a crowded city. But with their father opening his own business, the job required that they relocate, and that they did.

California seemed like a nice enough state to live in, and she'd heard numerous stories about the people, the weather and the culture in; she'd hoped that's where they'd move. Naturally she was pleased to discover that they'd moved to a pleasant area in Southern California, where she was placed in college right away. She was more than excited to discover that her long time friend, Keiko Himura, had been attending the same college since her graduation from High School. Though they hadn't exactly lost touch during the first year of college, Mahiru did have to agree that without Keiko, she'd been a little sad her first year. It seemed like a reunion to good to be true. But she was happy when she discovered that they'd be together again, with plenty of good times to follow. Heaving another sigh, she placed her empty can in the recycling bin and headed back upstairs, determined to finish her moving around in the next hour. '_Then it will be time for actual cleanup!_' Hands on hips, Mahiru stood before her door, smiling deviously. Inhaling a deep breath of readiness, she rolled up her sleeves and marched into the room. The door slammed shut and anything and everything of the outside world was closed off to Mahiru Shiraishi.

* * *

A couple hours later found Mahiru lying peacefully on her bed with her head on the pillows, arms dangling over the side of the bed's edges. The sun was still out in the sky outside; however, she knew it would be setting in a matter of hours. She was moving to sit up when she heard the doorbell ring obnoxiously. Letting out an annoyed growl, she jumped up and made her way down the staircase to answer it. She wasn't quite sure who she'd find on the other side but she wasn't really expecting it to be Mitsuru—part of her still hoped. Even though she doubted he'd help her out with the moving, she had still left a message on his answering machine earlier in the afternoon, and she was far from being finished with the process. She planned to rearrange the living room next and give the kitchen a thorough cleaning. '_I almost forgot about the garage too…_' she trailed off into thought as she swung the door open. She felt her eyes widen at the sight before her. Mitsuru stood in the doorway, a backpack slung over his shoulder and his gaze directed straight at her. She gasped. "M-Mitsuru, what….why…I mean, can I help you?"

He sighed in annoyance. "I got your message."

She clapped her hands gleefully as she grabbed his hand. "Oh, yes, right! Come in. I didn't think you'd actually come to help me!" She closed the door behind her as she led them both into the kitchen for a drink. When he made no move to pull away from her, Mahiru smiled secretly to herself. '_Maybe he doesn't hate me after all.'_ She was about to turn around and ask him what he wanted to drink when he pulled away and went to the window. Startled, she followed, trying to see what he was looking at. "Mitsuru….what is it? Is something bothering you?"

"Yeah…they're still there," Mitsuru replied in indignation.

"Who?" Mahiru followed his line of vision until he saw Akira and Keiko standing across the street, waiting. '_Wait a minute…so…he came because they forced him to!_' Suddenly angered and somewhat hurt, Mahiru huffed and began pushing him back towards the door. Puzzled, he gave a questioning look to which she responded only by opening up the front door. "Just tell them I finished moving. I don't need your help."

"Huh…? What are you talking about, girl?" Mitsuru looked flabbergasted. "Are you insane?"

"I see them. They made you come and help me!" She pointed to her friends. "Don't try and hide them!"

"I wasn't," Mitsuru snapped back as he shot them a lazy look. "I ran into that damn hyperactive mutt and that crazed witch on my way over." She glared; Mitsuru shook his head. "Ok, so maybe they gave me a push." She looked positively infuriated at his blatant attempt at lying. "Ok, so they did make me come over here. Do you want help or not, because I can just leave right now."

Huffing again, Mahiru slammed the door for the second time as she jerked him in the direction of her room. "I need you to help me move my dresser and shampoo the carpet for right now, ok? Don't say a word…" She shoved him into her room, and then was gone.

Mitsuru shrugged nonchalantly as he set his backpack down next to her cluttered desk, which consisted mainly of school books, tests, exams, general notes, notebooks, lab manuals; if it was from school, it was on her desk. But to the side of that, on her lamp desk, were piles of clothes, hangers and shoes piled high until they looked about ready to fall off. He raised an eyebrow as he caught sight of the wall above her headboard, really looking at it for the first time since he hadn't been able to the last time. It was decorated with a drawn out story about a demon boy and a princess who had fallen in love with the demon boy. He rolled his eyes at the mushy scene and continued looking around. Only then did he notice how much she liked the story on her wall; there were clues and snippets of it all over. Her desk lamp was made into the shape of an old fashioned doll wearing a traditional kimono; the doll's head lit up and light poured out from it. On the top of her bed was a hand-made quilt of a handsome demon and a beautiful princess dancing in the middle of a brightly, rainbow colored forest, a sunset behind them. It was elaborately embroidered. '_Maybe her…mom made it,_' he mused as he kept looking around. On her window was a scene of a magnificent princess sleeping under the moonlight with a young demon watching over her, carved into sticky plastic that stayed on the glass. He felt his eye twitch. '_What is it with her and this story?'_

Shaking his head in annoyance again, he made his way towards her dresser where clothes were still overflowing and it looked extremely messy. '_What do they think I am? Her servant boy?_' Though outraged, he knew it was a lost battle to fight. Keiko Himura was not one to mess with, especially when it came to Mahiru, who happened to be her best friend. He remembered Keiko from High School, briefly—and she him. Though for the strangest reason, when they'd met again, she acted like she didn't; he'd figured she hadn't liked him much in High School, or elementary for that matter. Shrugging his shoulders he began pushing the dresser out of the room, not surprised at how heavy it was. It looked as though Mahiru had already disassembled most of her bed frame as her mattress was sitting in the middle of the floor. He noticed the bolts, nuts and screws lying haphazardly on the floor as well. '_It figures_,' he thought as he rolled his eyes. '_If she's this messy here, then it explains the work environment habits…what a pig!_' He'd never really encountered a young woman's room with the exception of Katsura; but he didn't think it was normal for a girl's rooms to be this messy. "She is such a disorganized, messy idiot," he mumbled as he pulled on the dresser again.

"Incase you hadn't noticed, I AM cleaning OUT my room, Mitsuru."

He nearly jumped out of his skin when she spoke, surprised that he hadn't heard her; but he masked it well. "Whatever, dumb girl. I don't care how messy your room is."

"Then stop mumbling about it you big meanie," she replied. "Besides…I just haven't ever been that good about cleaning my room. Geez…you act like it's a big surprise."

He raised a brow, feigning indifference. '_I could've sworn…'_ He left his thought unfinished when she shoved a glass of what appeared to be iced-strawberry soda into his face. "What?"

"I'm offering you a drink, nerd. Just take it and say thanks…or however you thank people, if it's possible," she snapped in response, turning away after he reached out and accepted the cool beverage. "Seriously…"

"I am grateful," he murmured as though she'd offended him, which she had. '_But I'd rather die before she found that out.' _

She hadn't heard him at all, so he wasn't quite surprised when she walked to her window and leaned out, watching the trees sway in the breeze, the soft wind playing through her hair. Her blonde locks rustled in the cool zephyr as she sighed, deep in thought, thinking about some thing he couldn't even guess about. She frowned as she heard Mitsuru begin to move things again, her mind anywhere that didn't involve her moving her room around. Instead she was focused intently on the fact that he was actually helping, whether someone had forced him to or not. Either way, he really could have said no—even to Keiko. She knew how intimidating Keiko could be at times but even then, Mitsuru had never seemed like the type who would just sit there and take what someone said to him. Sighing again, she shook her head before turning around to walk out of the room and start on folding the clothes that were spilling from her dresser drawers. She'd gotten about two steps before tripping over his foot and falling to the carpeted floor with a loud thump. She had not quite expected that, but what surprised her even more was the hand that reached out to help her. Looking up in shock, Mahiru gasped as her eyes met Mitsuru's, her breath catching in her throat for a mere moment. '_This…I don't…I've seen this…deja vu?_' A second later she took his outstretched hand as he helped her up from the floor. They stared at each other a minute before he whirled around to go back to work—there were no snide comments. Mahiru was positively dumbfounded.

The rest of the afternoon carried on in a relatively silent manner until they had to go and clean the garage out. They stood there, staring in horror at what was actually in the garage. She hadn't been in the garage in about five or six months when it was still pretty clean. However, now it looked as if hell had warmed over. There were piles of random things sprinkled about, mainly clothes, yard tools, and the lawnmower was spewing leaves while it dripped gasoline everywhere. Mitsuru raised his hand to his head to scratch it, mystified. Mahiru simply shook her head, aghast. "It looks like Nozomu and father have been in here recently. I uh…I don't even know where to begin, Mitsuru." He said nothing, to which Mahiru rolled up her sleeves. "Well, it's not going to clean itself! Come on."

Rolling his eyes, Mitsuru made his way past her to clean up the oil, which was now creating a large greasy, shiny puddle right next to a pile of boxes that looked useless and old. Mahiru ran to the boxes as Mitsuru mopped at the mess, her eyes investigating the papers within them once she'd opened them. They were filled to the brim with bills, files, important looking things. '_But they might be really old…but still…I'd better get them somewhere safer_.' Hefting the boxes up and out of the way, she allowed Mitsuru to pass by her before heading to the house to put the boxes away. Once inside she slumped against the door, her heartbeat wild as she glanced outside. She inhaled sharply as she saw Mitsuru move a box, the muscles of his arms flexing from the strain while his shoulder blades stuck out through the material of his shirt. She was amazed by it, partially because she liked him, partially because his shirt wasn't exactly thin. '_I feel like a pervert,_' she thought as she clasped her hands together, trying not to fidget with them. She could hear him still moving boxes around, shifting, stacking—sounding thoroughly annoyed. Figuring she'd been gone long enough, she made to step out into the yard when the door she had been leaning against swung open. She barely had time to jump out of the way, pinning her back to the nearest wall while she tried to calm her breathing. Mitsuru stood in the doorway giving her a curious but irritated look as he brushed past her without saying a word; no apology, either. Huffing, Mahiru followed him into the kitchen, watching in slight bitterness as he poured himself a glass of lemonade from the fridge.

After gulping it down, he wiped his mouth with his shirt sleeve before leaning against the counter opposite to her, waiting for her to say something. Infuriated, Mahiru prickled. "Can't you at LEAST say you're sorry? You could've injured me back there!"

"What were you doing behind the door, dumb girl?" His eyes shot daggers at her face "Besides, I came to help, not clean the entire garage by myself. What was taking you so damn long?"

She gritted her teeth. "I was putting some stuff away, ok? I was on my way out before you so gracefully almost killed me, you big meanie!"

He rolled his eyes at her childish use of words. '_It's amazing to me, even now…_' Quirking his lips into a scowl, he shoved past her only to pause at the door. "Come on, we still have a lot of work to do before sun down."

Nodding, though she would much rather have bashed her head in, Mahiru followed his lead through the back door until they reached the garage. There was dust floating all over the place where light was shining through, and there were faint traces that showed Mitsuru had been starting to rake the leaves in the front yard. '_Well, I didn't ask him to help clean the yard,' _she thought. Nevertheless, she still appreciated that he even came over in the first place. Picking up the nearest spare rag, Mahiru set to cleaning the dust off the remaining boxes while Mitsuru went back to moving furniture around. The rest of the afternoon went the same way until it was about 9:30 at night, which was about the time Mitsuru started complaining about being hungry—though not vocally. His stomach growled loudly as they were finishing up cleaning the kitchen. Giggling, Mahiru picked up the phone and ordered take-out sushi for them both, a secret reward for their hard work. Mitsuru was busy admiring the statues and paintings in their living room when Mahiru scooted up beside him, leaving about two inches of space between their arms. Mitsuru bristled slightly at the close space but relaxed a moment later when she spoke.

"My mom…I used to hope she was the one that painted these. At least that's what father says," she said as she pointed to a series of pictures with the same demon boy and fragile princess. He heard her sigh, a sigh of sadness and turned to look down at her. In the dim lighting of the room she paid him no mind, but Mitsuru was suddenly aware of how sad she looked. He was about to speak when she continued, drifting away from him. "She used to say, according to my father, that these pictures were from a famous story she'd been told as a young girl. I guess it was passed down through the generations. When she passed…father kept the pictures for memory, and he gave me the other things she'd made. Mom liked to paint, amongst other things. She was an artist, I figured out later on. But now…well, you know the story; I'm sure Nozomu had told everyone by now."

Silence hung between them for a minute or two, deafening and heavy as Mahiru felt a tear slide down her cheek. Mitsuru could see it in the dim lighting, mainly from the moonlight that came through the window; he felt his pulse quicken. '_What am I supposed to do?_' His heart was pounding as he walked up to her just in time to see her shoulders start to shake. Reaching out, he was just about to touch her shoulder in a comforting gesture when she spoke again. "Of course…I don't know why I'm telling you this. You probably don't care." He was about to protest when the doorbell rang loudly. Sniffling, Mahiru wiped her tears away and grabbed some money from the ancient Japanese vase on the coffee table. "Excuse me, that'd be our food at the door. Why don't you go serve us something to drink? I'll be right back."

Without another word she departed to the hallway where the doorbell was still ringing. Mitsuru just stood there, dumbfounded, in the living room as he took in all she'd said. '_I don't…remember her being this sad before…it's like…I can't even explain it; it's odd._' Shaking his head, he went straight to the kitchen and pulled out the remainder of the strawberry iced tea, his finger trembling as he poured some into two glasses. He was placing the container in the recycling bin when Mahiru came in, the sushi in her hands. Her eyes were a little red from crying but otherwise, she seemed relatively normal again. They ate in an uncomfortable silence, and it remained that way until Mahiru was letting him out through the front door about an hour later. He was adjusting the straps on his backpack when he felt a hand on his arm. He turned around only to come face to face with Mahiru, a small, half hearted smile on her face. He was about to ask her what was wrong when she shook her head before walking up to him and hugging him. On instinct he was going to wrap his arms around her too, but didn't have time as she stepped away, quickly. Just as she was closing the door, she spoke, again.

"Mitsuru?"

He stopped but did not turn around. "Yes?"

"Thank you, for everything today. Goodnight," she replied before closing the door completely.

He hadn't had the chance to say 'you're welcome' to her, but he figured she didn't expect it from him. '_Would I have really said it anyway?_' Shaking his head, he waited until the light on the porch turned on and the lights in her bedroom turned off. Once this was done Mitsuru made his way down the block; he couldn't help the disappointed and worried frown that placed his lips.

Inside the comfort of her home, Mahiru fell against the door, sliding down until she was sitting with her arms around her knees. Silent tears slid down her cheeks as she sobbed into her knees, moistening her skin with tears. It was completely dark inside the house, the only light pouring through the windows were the moon and porch light. Aside from that, the darkness enveloped her and Mahiru felt alone as she had whenever her father left. '_But Nozomu used to never be gone…and now…both of them are gone._' Lifting her head, she sniffled and sighed as she wiped her tears away with her sweater sleeve. Her head hurt and she felt the sudden need for a couple of aspirin pills. As she was making her way up the stairs, she couldn't help but wonder if she was crying because of her brother or the twinge in her heart when Mitsuru did not even try to comfort her earlier that evening. '_Of course, I didn't exactly give him a chance to try, did I? I wonder if he did, and I just opened my big mouth.'_ Ignoring her thoughts, Mahiru popped two pills into her mouth, downed some water and returned to her room for her towel. '_I feel gross; I need to take a shower_.' After turning the water to lukewarm, Mahiru climbed in, exhaling slowly as the water washed over her grimy form. The consistent pounding of the water calmed her nerves as it landed rhythmically on her bare back.

The sound of the water droplets eased her mind as she leaned against the wall, her eyes closed and arms wrapped around her shoulders. Showers always seemed to make her feel better. In fact, something about water always made her feel better, soothing her when nothing else could. Inhaling deeply, Mahiru squeezed out a dollop of her favorite milk and honey shampoo, massaging it into her hair. Next came her body wash and conditioner as the finishing touches to her shower. Once done, she dried off and slipped into the coolest pair of pajamas she could find in her newly arranged and fixed dresser. As she completed her nighttime rituals of brushing her teeth and hair, she contemplated what she would do the next day. '_It's Sunday after all…'_ Her thought trailed as she slid into bed, drawing the curtain from her window so she could gaze at the stars and moon, which were perched high in the sky. Once her head hit the pillow, however, she was asleep.

* * *

With a sigh, Mahiru continued to block out the sun's rays, annoyed that they were intruding on her precious sleep and ruining her Sunday Morning. She could hear the birds chirping outside and the sounds of children laughing. '_Just what time is it anyway?_' Peeking through her fingers she took note of the blaring red digits on her digital clock. '_8:15…hm…_' Blinking back grogginess, she attempted to stifle a yawn but was rather unsuccessful. After a few minutes of no success, she gave up with an elongated huff as she climbed out of bed. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes while she trekked down the stairs to the kitchen for a glass of water and some breakfast. The sun was spilling into the lower rooms, courtesy of her forgetting to close the blinds. It wasn't hot inside; but the sun was about to make it so. Shaking her head, Mahiru made her way to the cabinets, which held the glasses when the phone suddenly rang. Blinking again, she picked the annoying thing from its receiver. "Moshi-moshi?"

"Mahiru, how are you?"

"Nozomu! I'm fine. When are you getting back?" Mahiru smiled as she talked to him.

"Oh, I think about two days from now. Something happened and we had to stay longer. Is that all right? Is everything all right with you?" He asked.

She nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her. "No, I'm just fine. But I…um…I was hoping you'd be back today, but that's all right. Father's business is very important."

"This is true, Mahiru. But it's not as important as you, so remember that, all right?"

She giggled. "Thanks Nozomu, I know." She sighed as she made her way towards the kitchen, still smiling. "So, do you have any idea when you'll be back now? I was hoping that I could talk to you about something."

"Are you having any troubles, Mahiru?" Nozomu's voice was a little anxious. Truth be told, he was on the other line, miles away from her, ridden with anxiety that his suspicions were coming were true. Misoka ignored his sudden fidgeting as he peered at the tall blonde through his glasses, a smirk on his lips. Nozomu was so transparent at times that it made things too easy for his long haired friend. Nozomu smiled at something his sister said and Misoka raised a brow. "Hm…that sounds like a great idea. I think we'll be home by then. Sure thing Mahiru. Now you take care, hear me? Oh, all right. Bye."

Mahiru giggled again as she hung up, relief flooding her as she went to get ready for breakfast. Not too long after she had finished consuming her food she was on her way to work. When she entered the store, Keiko and Akira were already getting money from the safe for the cash registers. They smiled at her in greeting as she made her way towards the back room, pulling out her uniform as she did so. When she entered the inventory area she was surprised to find it empty. She blinked, curious. "Akira, Keiko…am I…going to be working alone today or is Mitsuru just late?"

"Mitsuru won't be coming in today," Akira replied solemnly as Keiko averted her eyes.

Mahiru just blinked for the second time. "Did something…happen? He seemed perfectly all right yesterday afternoon."

"I think he's caught the flu," Keiko cut in before Akira could say anything more. "Anyway, you can get full credit today for all your hours. But Oboro said that the store is supposed to close early, around 2:30."

"Oh…" Mahiru glanced around at the neat inventory area. "Maybe…well…all right. I'll clock out then."

"Ok, we'll be up front."

The rest of the afternoon went by agonizingly slow for Mahiru as she tried to focus on work rather than the reason that she couldn't work. It seemed unlike Mitsuru to get sick and miss work, let alone get sick at all. He always showed up to class, no matter what. And so far, he seemed immune to any sickness that came their way—and he didn't have any allergies. She was still pondering this when she heard the door swing open. She knew it wasn't Mitsuru but part of her still hoped. When she saw Keiko's bright, smiling face she smiled too. "Hey Keiko. What's up?"

"I know you've only been back at work for a few hours and all, but I'm doing my routine check up," Keiko answered with a grin.

Mahiru raised a brow. "What?"

"Nozomu asked me to check on you. We can't be too careful since you fainted." Keiko seemed to scowl when she saw Mahiru's blatant objection to the suggested action. "Look Mahi, we worry about you. You're just going to have to get used to this, at least for a few weeks or so. We were all so worried, especially Nozomu."

The young blonde sighed as she shook her head. "I know…I know. Thanks Keiko, for caring."

With that said, Keiko smile done more time before leaving. Hours passed. She could hear only silence from the front accompanied by an occasional laugh fest between Keiko and Akira; but there were few to none customers to speak of. She could hear no one asking for help and she heard the doorbell chime only 5 times in the past hour. '_Wow…things are really slow today_.' Annoyed at being cooped up in the back the entire time, she ventured out into the customer service area to see Keiko and Akira in conversation. Normally she would have left them alone but today she was bored out of her mind; she skipped up to them just loud enough so that they wouldn't become surprised. "Hey Keiko, Akira. I have an idea!"

Akira blinked while Keiko shook her head, knowing where Mahiru's idea was going before she voiced it. "What's that, Mahiru?" Akira questioned curiously.

"Why don't we go visit Mitsuru, you know…see how he's doing and all? If he's got the flu, I know a great soup he can eat, and I can help him with homework or something!" Mahiru's voice was vibrant and giddy—Keiko was suspicious. As if sensing this, Mahiru put her hands up in surrender. "I mean, we're his friends and all, co workers too! We should at least see when his big, meanie self is going to terrorize the inventory room again!"

"Are you sure this isn't an excuse to see him?" Keiko prodded mischievously.

Mahiru huffed as she stuck her nose in the air. "Oh for heaven's sake…of course not. I'm just being a good classmate all right? So what if I am worried, he's still human, no matter how much of a jerk he is!"

"That's Mahiru's never ending cup of mercy and compassion," Keiko remarked as she hopped off the counter, staring at her watch. "Wow, Mahiru, Akira, it's already 2:20. We should probably start to close, right?"

Akira nodded, his eyes alight with mirth as he threw the keys to Keiko. "I'll go put the cash drawers away. Mahiru, why don't you just check up in the back, make sure everything is tidy and all?"

She smiled as she agreed, her eyes laughing as she left to the inventory area, her gait steady. '_I wonder what type of soup Mitsuru would like…chicken, wanton, Miso, leeks and potato?_' She was locking up the inventory room as she thought this, pausing as she looked into nothingness. Her mind was wandering as she joined Keiko and Akira outside the now darkened store. They looked amused as she followed them, her eyes seemingly focused on something they could not see. "Ano…what kind of soup does Mitsuru like?"

Akira shrugged. "What kind do you have?"

"Well, none…actually…" She answered.

"I have Leeks and Potato that Hokuto made earlier today." Keiko pronounced her fiancée's name like it was poison. "We could pick it up while he's out."

Once agreed they turned the corner towards Keiko's estate, lost in their own thoughts. Akira was unusually silent as the girls talked behind him. Akira silent was a bad sign but the girls continued on, not distracted and failing to notice his quiet state. These days he wasn't feeling nearly as hyper as he normally did; he was worried about Mitsuru, too. Just the other day he saw Mitsuru almost collapse but when Akira neared him in an attempt to help, the aqua-haired adult recovered and went about his business. He was still deep in thought when they arrived at Keiko's house. Her estate, which was shared with Hokuto, was dark and ominous when all the lights were off and nighttime blanketed the sky. However, during the daylight hours it looked very much like a palace, lit up by the sun and bathed in warm, golden light, making it seem heavenly. Akira gasped, never having seen anything like it. Mahiru simply kept walking as she'd been to Keiko's more than enough times to be impressed by the size of the house, as well as the appearance. She knew from personal experience that the house held anything but a warm, friendly aura to it. She hated visiting Keiko's mansion—it always felt so distant. It was not that there was no comfort in Keiko's house—though Mahiru disagreed with this—but there was no real sense of life to it. It was missing something, in Mahiru's opinion, which, she figured, was the reason Keiko enjoyed visiting Mahiru at her own house, the Moegi's.

Nevertheless, she chuckled at Akira's naïve nature as Keiko asked them to wait outside. Akira pouted at this, for he truly wanted to see where Keiko lived and what it was like. He squelched this thought, however, at the dark look that came over her face. Keiko had been gone for mere minutes when Mahiru cleared her throat, signaling she wanted to say something to the hyper active young man. He glanced at her. "Yeah, is something the matter Mahiru?"

She sighed. "Akira, what's REALLY going on with Mitsuru? Did he really get the flu or is there something else going on?" He looked puzzled; she just sighed again. "I feel like Mitsuru is lying to me…he doesn't tell me anything…though I don't know why he would. He hardly cares what I think…but still…I can't shake the feeling that there is something seriously wrong…or that he's…hiding something." As she said this she prayed she did not turn pink, for she knew she herself was hiding something very important from her brother and her best friend. She gulped as if in worry as Akira shook his head. "So…there is nothing?"

"Not that I know of. Oboro hasn't told us anything though…and neither would Mitsuru…but I'm sure it's just that he's sick. He works a lot of hours and has a lot of homework—he's probably just getting a little worn out," Akira replied, confident. He could tell she did not believe him. '_Why would she?_' He mused to himself as she resumed looking abut anywhere but him. '_They have all the same classes together, and the same work schedule—why would she think anything different?_' He let out a snort as he realized he was, possibly, over analyzing the entire situation. 'But what if I'm not?' Shaking his head in response to his own question, Akira simply resumed his own gazing at Keiko's mansion as he saw Mahiru wave. Then, he noticed Keiko exiting the estate with a large tureen of soup, a screaming servant following wildly behind her. Akira raised a brow as she turned on him; she must've said something horrible for the servant's face to suddenly have become stricken. Moments later they were all walking towards Mitsuru's, where Akira, Misoka and Oboro all lived, though Misoka would soon be moving out. The hyper-active teen let out a sigh. '_I wish Nozomu would've stayed with us…but Mahiru…_'

He felt slightly guilty for acting like he'd never known Mahiru, and he knew the rest of them did as well. She had been a part of their lives ever since he could remember. She had been such a sweet girl, loving and caring. She had tried to befriend Mitsuru, too, numerous times. '_I guess some things don't change even after all that stuff happened…_' He had been informed of her whereabouts after her father had upped and moved them to the east coast. She'd been in her freshman year of high school, right before the beginning of their sophomore year. Once again he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the terrible thoughts that suddenly plagued him. Still, he'd recognized her, Keiko had, and Misoka and Oboro had — did Mitsuru? There was something off about their encounter that made him wonder whether Mitsuru had been told the news those four or five years ago. He'd venture to think and say no, that Mitsuru hadn't, based off the way things had been going the past year. Nevertheless, they continued their trek towards Oboro quaint, but quite spacious house, their goal of helping Mitsuru the only thing in Mahiru's mind. Even so, Akira could Keiko biting her lips, seemingly nervous about something. Playing it off as though she and Akira had never met was a hard thing to do in front of Mahiru, when in fact; they'd known each other since they'd known Mahiru. Keiko had been so good about playing it off, about keeping up the act; but lately, it was getting harder to do.

Hokuto was pressuring her about their marriage, one she no longer felt like consenting to—not that'd she'd had a choice in the beginning. But her renewed friendship with Akira had made things harder because she knew she was becoming interested in him, because she knew she was starting to like him in more than a friendly way. He'd always been a good friend to her, especially when Mahiru had moved. Luckily, her friend knew her enough. However, it didn't change the fact that the last four or five years had been hard on her. Without Akira she felt like she might have given in to sadness—she'd lost her best friend. Sighing, she silently slipped her arm through Akira's as Mahiru continued humming lightly to herself ahead of them. He gave her a questioning, curious look to which she only shook her own head, leaning it against his shoulder. He knew, by this action, that she was in no mood to talk about it because she knew he was thinking the same things as she. Only when they reached the familiar path to Oboro's did she brighten. The welcoming feel of the house and smell of fresh flowers brought her up. Mahiru was already knocking on the door when Akira and Keiko reached her. She looked content, happy, and light-hearted—Keiko turned away and Akira frowned. Seconds later they could heat the lock opening and see the doorknob turn.

Mitsuru gasped, stupefied, when he found Mahiru standing on his doorstep. It was short lived though, when he saw Akira and Keiko standing behind her, staring into space and avoiding his now heated glare. However, he didn't have time to snap at them as Mahiru had pushed him back inside the house, scolding him like a child. He simply blinked at her in awe and blatant irritation. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled nonetheless. "We brought you soup! Akira said you caught the flu, or something along those lines…but anyway, yeah, we brought you some Leeks and Potato soup. Leeks are really healthy for you, by the way." The entire time she had been saying this to him she had started setting up four bowls while Keiko went to the bathroom, complaining of a small stomach ache. Akira had disappeared, too, but Mahiru didn't notice as she continued rambling on to the obviously irritated young man before her. She ignored that part of him as she talked about school, work and life in general. He probably didn't care for the 411 from her but she wasn't about to let him get one sarcastic, spiteful word in. "So we're here to visit you and make sure you have everything you need for the next few days—we don't want you to get worse or anything."

He rolled his eyes. "Sheesh…you're so annoying…"

She slapped the wooden spoon she'd been using to serve the soup straight onto the tabletop in front of him, splattering him with bits of the warm food. "Listen you; I think you at least owe me a "thank you" or something. I did offer to just get all your homework and stuff for the next few days if you can't make it. Stop being so ungrateful for once, will you?"

His eyes narrowed. "I didn't ask you to do any of this, stupid girl."

She sighed. "For once, I'd think you'd at least appreciate the concern…but I guess I was wrong." Giving a defeated sigh, she threw the spoon on the table and walked out the door.

Mitsuru knew the consequences of his actions could be dire, especially with Keiko and Akira around. So without a second thought he ran after her, as fast as his weak limbs could carry him. After his last week at work he had been left more tired than usual, having to train late and practice. He was extremely annoyed by this, more so than he was tired. But his already used up energy store made it harder and he began to get sick, in a sense. He wasn't sure which was worse: less sleep and his hectic schedule or no way of explaining to his surrogate "family" what was going on—though he chose the latter. He shook his head to clear it as he chased after her into the front yard, glaring daggers at her back the whole time he pushed himself to go after her. She was halfway down the path to the gate when he reached her, using his hands to grab her before she could actually exit the gate.

He'd never been more embarrassed in his life, cursing himself to hell and back as she let out a squeak while they fell, unceremoniously, onto the green grass. Mitsuru had been in such a rush to catch her that his blanket had been left hanging off him and when he'd grabbed her, the blasted thing tripped them both. As a result, they lay there a mere few seconds, tangled up in his blanket and shock until the front door burst open to reveal Keiko and Akira looking thoroughly amused. Mitsuru was the first to come to his senses as he shot up faster than Akira had ever seen before, dumping Mahiru on the ground with his blanket, and convincing the rest of the world that he was not sick. She gave him a malicious glare as she huffed and picked herself up on the ground, discarding the cover in his face before stomping back inside. Akira followed suit, just to make sure she didn't destroy anything in her rampage.

Once inside, Mahiru began slamming the pot lid onto the pot, stifling the steam from getting out. The soup was reheated and she'd taken the courtesy of doing it in a pot instead of the microwave—her father did not believe in them. A tear escaped her eye as she leaned on the counter, her hands braced against the ceramic as more tears slid down her cheeks. She wasn't sobbing but she felt an ache spread throughout her body as Mitsuru's lack of tact and appreciation. '_He's right…he didn't ask for it…but still…_' Her thought was cut short when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She was sure it was Keiko but at the masculine voice that spoke, she knew it wasn't. Akira rubbed her shoulders affectionately as she tried to soothe her, whispering pointless jokes into her ear until she laughed at one. After about his fourth round of nonsensical joking did Mahiru turn around and present him with a small grin; her tear-stained cheeks were glowing a light pink as she attempted to reassure him that she was not THAT distraught. He rewarded her with a small hug as he sat her down at the table and served them each a bowl of the delicious smelling soup. After they had been seated for a few minutes, and Mahiru had taken a few spoonfuls of the soothing meal, Akira decided to speak.

"Mahiru, it'll be all right. Mitsuru does appreciate all this…he's just not very good at expressing his emotions. He never has been. I'm only sorry that he hurt you with it this time."

She chuckled a little, somewhat half-heartedly. "It's…okay Akira…I shouldn't have expected more of him so suddenly. How silly I am, sometimes…" She sniffled as the aroma of the soup invaded her nose, pleasantly. "But thank you…for cheering me up. I'm glad that you did."

"Me too," he answered, a large smile on his face. "Being sad doesn't suit you at all…it never has and it never will."

She gave him a curious look as he rose to serve them some juice. '_What did he mean it never has…?_' Her question went unanswered as she continued consuming her soup, her frustration addled brain only somewhat really caring.

* * *

Meanwhile, their earlier display and escape had left Keiko and Mitsuru outside. Keiko shook her head, not feeling quite up to a full blown argument at the particular moment. Mitsuru seemed to understand this as he crossed his arms over his chest, breathing out slowly. She was the first to speak, still feeling quite ill as she walked a little closer to him. "Mitsuru," she whispered quietly. "You have to at least TRY and be nicer to Mahiru…it's been such a long time…don't you think it's time you gave it up?"

He shot her a defiant glance. "Who's to say I haven't?"

She scowled. "Come on Mitsuru, you know you haven't. Why else would you have been so hostile to her in the kitchen? She's done nothing but been nice to you since she got back. Why don't you give her some credit? I know you're stubborn—we're kind of the same, in that aspect—but that stuff that happened was in the past. Just let it go."

He turned away, annoyed. "Fine, I'll try. But it's hard when she's so…"

"Caring and oblivious?" Keiko offered, knowing it was hard for Mitsuru to admit anything. She wouldn't be some type of friend to him for nothing. Gesturing to the house, she nodded for them to go back inside. "Just this once, Mitsuru, try to do something that goes against what everyone says about you. Don't let them say who you are; you know that's not you, not deep down inside. We all know."

He watched, somewhat in awe, as she disappeared through the door's entrée way, amazed that she was so like and not like Mahiru. '_Well…they were friends for all those years._' A small smile placed his lips as he walked towards the door, pausing at the entrance when he saw Mahiru throw her head back and let out a peel of laughter he hadn't heard in years—one he'd loved hearing when they were younger. '_You're back Mahiru…at least part of you is. And for that, I am grateful._'

* * *

_(Okie, so I don't know if it's been noticed but there is an idea implanted in this story that does NOT belong to me. If you've seen in, well then…you're good. Or I am just crappy at concealing it from the plot! Either way, the idea is NOT mine so don't sue me for it. Also, this chapter was not pivotal and nothing REALLY exciting happened. There were hints that might open doors in the later chapters though—I think they're pretty obvious. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm trying not to make it move SUPER FAST so it seem unrealistic…but not SUPER slow either so it takes forever. It's kind of hard balancing the two. We'll see how we go? Please R&R, it's greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!)_

Chocomintswirl


	6. Times are changing

_Note to Disclaimers: I do not own Crescent Moon so don't sue me because if you did that'd just be…sad…mainly cause I own nothing, not even the car I use. So I couldn't give you anything! So…NO SUEING, POR FAVOR!_

A/N: This story is so continuing on as an A/U fic, so just remember that peoples! Um…not much else to say except that it's getting a little more complicated. Not sure what this chapter will be to any of you though…but read if you'd like to! Oh, and R&R if ya could! It's greatly appreciated!

Word Coding:

'_Thoughts'_

"Speaking"

Everything else

**A Life best kept Secret (Chapter 5)**

Nozomu tapped his fingers against the armrest of the airplane's seat, annoyed that their flight had been delayed. It seemed a trivial thing to have been delayed because a passenger on first class couldn't find her favorite pearl necklace or her 6 karat white gold wedding ring. Then again, it was worth more than a house's payment in one shot. He gave the unsuspecting woman a sordid glance as she cooed to her young child, who was wrapped up in what appeared to be a fine, silk blanket. Rolling his eyes, he shielded his view from her with an airplane safety pamphlet, annoyed that the trip was taking long. Of course, traveling from England to New York and then to California did take its toll on him—especially after having to stay overtime for the meetings and having to change time zones. Business was flourishing and Oboro had decided they'd needed to stay a little extra time to ensure the partnership. On top of all that, after Mahiru's invigorating phone call the day prior, Nozomu was phoned by their father. All in all, Nozomu was surprised to hear how stressed out his father happened to be; the refined, older man always seemed so relaxed. When the young man had asked what was wrong, his father stressed the necessity for the partnerships to be finalized—the bonds needed to be unbreakable. Lucky for him, Nozomu happened to be quite the persuasive fellow when it came to convincing people, while Misoka made sure the younger man had all the facts and information right. The team was pretty much unstoppable.

Nevertheless, he was tired, he missed home and he missed his family. Mahiru's phone call had made his day; she was always so happy and cheerful. Their jovial conversation had helped him make it through his next speech without any problems whatsoever, and the partnerships were made and negotiations were closed, positively. Sighing, he leaned his seat back as Misoka continued flipping through a Stock & Bonds manual by their company, making sure that he was up-to-date on any changes that might have taken place. The blonde haired man shook his head as he took in the sight. '_Misoka is always so…responsible…though I'm not quite sure that's the right word._' A baby's cry interrupted his quiet thoughts as the woman he'd been trying to ignore for the past hour attempted, quite unsuccessfully in his opinion, to silence the child. He watched Misoka turn and raise a brow at the spectacle the mother and child were making, and his lips quirked to the side ever so slightly. Only at this action did Nozomu feel a chuckle make its way through his throat and out of his mouth. Everyone else on first glass kept glaring at the woman, wishing the child would be quiet and stop penetrating their sleep with the horrid cries. Shaking his head again, Nozomu resumed his careful observation of the world below, not really admiring the tiny specks that were cities, mountains and the occasional body of water that went by. Misoka, too, had returned to his "manual" browsing, seemingly interested in whatever the flimsy booklet had to offer. Nozomu sighed again. Their flight was taking too long, and all he really wanted was to be home. '_Another two hours like this and I WILL die._'

* * *

Mahiru had to, more or less, drag her reluctant body through the halls of the science building as she left Chemistry and made her way towards her history class. She was still groggy even though she'd already attended her first three classes—English Literature, Calculus and Chemistry, which was last. Her Japanese Language classes didn't count since she had them early on Saturday mornings, around 8:00 AM. African-American studies tended to wake her up since her teacher was so lively and passionate about the subject; but she felt like she'd been hit by a train—twice. Inhaling deeply, she hiked her backpack higher onto her shoulder as she tried to regain event the smallest spark of interest in her eyes. She took a deep breath as she slowly turned the doorknob, her cheeks already starting to flush. '_I hate when I'm late to this class…Mr. Denall always makes fun of me…_' She pushed the door a little, unsure of whether she should enter or not when she heard the unmistakable voice of her instructor beckoning her inside. She cursed herself as she opened the door all the way and 40 heads turned to look at her. Embarrassed beyond all possible belief, she scurried straight to the only available seat, which happened to be in the middle row—and was stopped. Horror etched over her features as she heard her name called and a request to stop mid-stride accompanying it. 

"Ms. Shiraishi…since you love being late so often, why don't you inform me, since you don't think that you have to be here at the same time as the rest of us—tell me: When did some of the first Slave ships cart slaves from Africa to America?" Mr. Denall fixed her with a hard stare as she stopped.

Mahiru huffed in annoyance as she stayed still in her spot, all the while wracking her brain for an answer that she knew from studying the night before. "Um…Mr. Denall, do you want an exact date or a general time period, say a century or so?"

He paused, suddenly thoughtful as he fixed her with a curious stare. "Ms. Shiraishi, can you give me an exact date?"

Relieved, she nodded. "Well, I know some of the first ships arrived in America in 1619. Will that answer suffice?"

He smiled, though the vein pulsing in his left temple told her that he was anything but happy. "Of course it will, Ms. Shiraishi. Have a seat so I can continue my lecture."

As soon as she was seated Mr. Denall began drawing an outline on the board. One look at it told her they were going to have exams soon, at least Mid-terms. '_Well, it is November after all…and the semester is over on December 17th. It's only natural we'd have midterms. What a damn drag_.' Sighing, she slowly pulled out her notebook and spiral in order to take notes for the impending test that would take place in the next couple weeks or so. Just as luck would have it, she'd forgotten her textbook and her black pen exploded the minute she started to write on the paper. Cursing, she excused herself from class, earning herself a curious look from her teacher, as she went to the bathroom to wash off her face as well as possible. The ink had managed to stain the entire front expanse of her sweater and had left rather unattractive mark on her face, mainly on her cheeks and lips. '_I look like something died on my face and shirt…something that died and decayed three times over!_' Huffing for the second time in a ten minute time span, Mahiru made her way back to class, suddenly moody. She did not even spare her teacher a glance, which resulted in her missing his annoyed look as she took her seat and began jotting down notes. She was so immersed in writing them down that she did not hear him calling her name until her classmate jabbed her in the side.

"What is it?" She hissed the question as she halted the furious movement of her pen. Her classmate pointed to the front where her teacher was wearing a most harassed look on his face. She blanched. "Yes sir? Were you calling on me?"

He nodded, exasperated. "Yes, in fact, I was calling on you though you seemed to have not heard me. Anyhow, I am assigning certain parts of the text to each student so that he or she may lead the class next Tuesday while I am out. You're part is to explain how the change from Native Americans, indigenous slaves shifted to the African slaves, understand?"

"Yes sir," she replied as she jotted down the assignment, face afire from more unnecessary embarrassment. When class had ended she hitched her backpack onto her shoulder and made a mad dash for the record store. '_Geez…I don't even have time to actually change this messed up clothing!_' She cursed her bad luck the entire way to the store, even after she'd run into Keiko and they high-tailed it so they wouldn't be late. Both girls barely made it by their scheduled work time, stumbling in through the back inventory room, startling Mitsuru and earning a curious look from Misoka. Mahiru blushed as she waved, not really noticing as Keiko dashed to the front of the store, already dressed in her uniform for work. After the initial adrenaline rush left her body, Mahiru collapsed onto the couch, somewhat exhausted as she slowly clipped on her utility belt, ignoring Mitsuru's heated glare. Misoka, however, gave her a small grin to which she blushed more. "Oh! Good afternoon Misoka, Mitsuru. Sorry I'm a little late but the buses weren't running today. I had to walk…er…run with Keiko to get here."

"I can see that," Misoka stated, his small grin never wavering. "Although, I will say that the rush was not necessary. You could have changed given the…state of your dress. I'm sure your apron will cover most of it, but I suppose you don't enjoy being in that ink-stained shirt, do you?"

Mahiru sighed, her irritated mood returning ten-fold. "Of course not! But it's all right…it's just a shirt…"

"A nice one it seems, too, Mahiru," Misoka replied, suddenly aware that she was not really ok with the happening of he destroyed shirt. "But, if you'd like, you can change in the bathroom. We have some clean spare t-shirts in the supply closets for these types of occasions. Or you could…stay in that shirt."

Realizing that he was poking fun at her that was intentioned to make her laugh, she let out a small giggle. "Thanks Misoka. I'll do that. And I guess…" She gestured to her shirt. "I guess I'll throw this in the garbage. It's no good and I know I can't get a stain like this out anytime soon. Thanks."

With that said she disappeared into the supply closet. Outside the door, Mitsuru was staring at Misoka, instantly angered. "What is it, you damn annoying bastard?"

The older man's grin grew wider. "Why, nothing Mitsuru. It seems that you are extremely grumpy today. Any particular reason as to why that might be? Say…because Mahiru walked in?"

"Whatever…this is friggin annoying. You both are! Just leave so I can work, dammit!" He spun around and began to stack boxes in the corner that weren't meant to be opened just yet. Misoka only stared at his back for a few more minutes until Mitsuru turned back to him, fire in his chocolate colored eyes. "What the _hell_ do you want?"

Shaking his head, Misoka made his way toward the exit doors. "Nothing, really. Just make sure you don't forget about the special shipment that's coming in a few weeks, ok? Tell Mahiru that Akira wants to see her. Goodbye Mitsuru."

"Yeah, and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, you bastard!" He shouted after the disappearing figure of his older co-worker. He was about to scream more when Mahiru reappeared in the room, her face curious at first. But when she caught sight of Mitsuru, she presented him with a small smile. He felt his cheeks burn and turned away. "Great, idiot # 2 is here. What do _you_ want?"

She scowled immediately. "Well, excuse me for saying hi! I _work_ here, Mitsuru! _That_ is why _I'm_ here!"

"And what a damn shame it is!" He bellowed as he slashed open a box with his knife.

Mahiru grimaced as she picked up the nearest object she could find—her knife, which was closed—and chucked it at his head. Just as the shiny object went sailing through the air, he seemingly found the perfect moment to turn around because the knife hit him squarely on the head, right between his eyes. Startled, he let out an uncharacteristic shriek as he stumbled backwards. Against her own anger Mahiru reached out just in time to go falling with him in her failed attempt to help him steady himself. He fell back on the newly opened box of CDs, Mahiru landing on top of him as CDs spilled from the broken edges of the box. The clattering made quite the amount of noise but Akira had the music blasting so loud up front that no one heard their accident. Mahiru let out a yelp as she felt CD cases jab into her legs where her skirt did not cover her exposed body parts, scratching and bruising her pale skin. As it was, Mitsuru's utility belt was practically stabbing her in the stomach and her arms were caught between both of them; and her own utility belt had only been halfway on when she'd fallen. Half the contents were spilled onto the floor. As for Mitsuru, he had turned about five shades of red—she hadn't seemed to noticed—and was currently willing himself to ignore the fact that her face was entirely too close to his. He could feel every contour of her body pressed against his, along with all the annoying supplies used for work, as they lay there seemingly immobile.

The sudden silence that reigned in the room was beginning to suffocate both of them, especially Mitsuru who was beneath Mahiru. She breathed in a shaky breath as she waited for him to scream at her, yell at her, and say anything that would give her a sign that he was still himself. However, what he said threw her totally off guard, so much so that she practically mauled him in the process. "Um…" She blinked when she felt his hand come up and lay on the small of her back—it seemed to be quivering a bit. "Are you ok? That fall was pretty nasty."

She nodded, slowly, as though she hadn't quite understood what he'd said. _'Didn't he fall harder than me?' _Seconds later she was on her knees, both straddling his own as she offered him a hand to get up. But the look in his eyes made her falter and her hand ended up going towards his face until it landed on his cheek, cupping it for a split second before his gaze turned bewildered. Nevertheless, her hand did not move and she leaned forward a little as Mitsuru rose to meet her, or at least it appeared that way. Her heart was beating rapidly as she waited for their lips to touch but instead, she blanched as she heard footsteps coming their way. Coming back to reality, she quickly stood up; her hand leaving his cheek as she finally helped him stand before turning away and going back towards her carts. At that moment, Akira bounded in and gave them both curious looks. The air in the room seemed thicker than normal, tinged with tension as well as a bit of abnormal warmth, like fire and electricity had somehow fused and blown up. Shaking his head in an attempt to ignore the weird atmosphere, Akira went right up to Mahiru. Mitsuru paid no attention to them as he grabbed the nearest box of unpacked vinyls and made to ignore them right away. Seconds later, Mahiru burst from the room, running quickly towards the front area; there was a shout and laughing. Mitsuru made a sour face when he heard Nozomu's voice drift through the swinging door as Akira had decided to leave shortly after the grinning blonde. '_Seems like that blood-sucking prick has returned.'_ His left eye twitched madly as he stabbed another box, this time out of pure malice, which caused him to practically cut a stack of CDs straight through the middle.

He blinked at what he'd almost caused, not sure whether or not it was something he should even bother to think about. Shaking his head, he ignored the noise from the front area and continued working until Misoka suddenly appeared at his left side, the same serene look still on his face even though he was wearing darker glasses, if it was possible. Mitsuru bristled at the older man and pretended he wasn't there, trying to concentrate on his work as though his co-worker didn't exist. It worked for mere few minutes before Mitsuru was sure the vein in his left temple would pop from annoyance, therefore resulting in his death; it sounded pleasant at that moment. However, he was not to be obliged as he finally turned towards Misoka, eye still twitching. "What the hell do you want, dammit?" When Misoka said nothing, Mitsuru growled. "Dammit…you piss me off…"

"Everyone does Mitsuru; you've made that abundantly clear, haven't you?" Misoka gave him a smirk as the shorter man started punching in his time card, ready to leave for the day. "Well, please do take care of Mahiru; I am leaving early today since I was at the conference. Good day."

"Yeah, whatever," Mitsuru replied as he went back to viciously stabbing the boxes, his irritation driving him. When Mahiru returned with Nozomu by her side, he only stabbed the boxes harder, his teeth gritted. '_Great…I fucking love Tuesdays._'

* * *

By the mid-evening, which was also the time for her to start her homework, Mahiru was ready to collapse. With class earlier in the day plus work at the store, she felt as though she needed a long nap; but her homework had to be finished. If her grades failed, then Nozomu and her father would find out, which she could not afford. She needed at least 6 hours of sleep to function properly the next day at work—both her jobs—but she also needed to do her homework, which tended to consist of at least two to 3 ½ hours worth of reading and doing problems as well as studying. Sometimes she wasn't even sure how she was managing but she figured she could keep doing it; she'd come so far and she wasn't about to quit. Annoyed by her fatigue, she pulled out her chemistry book and began working on her homework, having to read the chapter before she began the actual problems. The sheer amount of text she had to cover made her want to cry, yet she managed to finish the first half within 45 minutes. She was in the middle of completing the actually problems when her phone rang. Sighing, she picked it up, glad for the little interruption—she'd been working on chemistry for an hour straight. "Hello, Moegi residence." 

"Mahiru, I'm so glad you're still up."

"Hi Keiko, what's up?" Mahiru twirled the cord around her finger as she leaned back in her chair, tired.

"Um…can I…sleepover tonight?"

Mahiru blinked, sitting upright suddenly. "Yeah…sure…but isn't it kinda late? It's already 11:00."

Keiko's voice wavered. "Yes…I know it's late but I…I was locked out."

Mahiru knew better than to believe that as she nodded though Keiko could not see her. "Sure…I'll leave the door unlocked. See you in a bit then." She hung up the phone before standing to stretch her sore limbs, rubbing her eyes along the way as she headed towards the door. She opened it and came face to face with Nozomu, who was standing there with his arms crossed. Mahiru smiled at him, sleepily. "Oh, hi Nozomu. Is something the matter?"

"No, I just thought you'd be asleep is all. Lots of homework to do?" At her nod, he patted her head. "Well, I can make you a snack or bring you something to drink if you want."

"That's ok. I was going downstairs. But you can join me," she answered as she began walking downstairs. "Oh, and if you're wondering, that was Keiko who called. So if the bell rings, can you get it for me?"

He nodded back. "Of course I can. Is something wrong?"

"I'm sure there is…but I'll have to wait until she gets here to figure it out." She poured two glasses of sweetened green tea and set them on the table as Nozomu took a seat across from her. She yawned, sinking into the chair. "Gee…I'm so tired…school was rough today. Mr. Denall was so mean. He put me on the spot!"

"But you impressed him, right?" When she smiled, he cheered lightly. "That's my girl! You're too smart for words sometimes, Mahiru. If only you weren't so lazy about punctuality…"

She pouted. "That's mean Nozomu!"

"Am I right, or am I right?" He replied, smugly. She nodded. Sighing, Nozomu stood up. "All right, well…you enjoy the rest of your night, all right?" She nodded again, cheerily. "Goodnight Mahiru."

"Goodnight brother." She watched as he departed, releasing an elongated sigh as he disappeared through the hallway; the doorbell suddenly rang. Mahiru stood to get it, rubbing her tired eyes the entire way there until she actually opened the door to allow Keiko inside the warm, quaint house. Once they had made it back up to her room she fell on her bed, annoyed and exhausted, practically throwing her history homework over the edge of the bed in disgust. She still had yet to finish chemistry and it was beginning to get later and later. Keiko was sitting, resolutely, on the other edge of her bed, bag of clothes still in her hands while she stared out the window. Curious, Mahiru reached out to her distraught friend, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Keiko…did you…want to talk about it?"

"I'm…falling for him," she whispered quietly, eyes focused on her hands as a tear slid down her cheeks. "But…I'm engaged to be married to Hokuto."

"You're falling for whom?" Mahiru blinked, feeling somewhat ashamed that she tended to be so dense.

"Akira."

Mahiru inhaled deeply, rubbing comforting circles on her friend's back as she crawled over to her, smiling weakly. "You're falling for Akira?" A nod. "Keiko…it's ok…to fall for him. Akira seems like a great guy. And the wedding…well…can't you just call it off?"

"It's arranged," she replied, sniffling a little. "It's binding. My parents have chosen. Only Hokuto can call off the wedding; and he won't do anything of the sort."

"Maybe you can convince him otherwise…" she trailed off when Keiko let out a bitter laugh. "I'll take that as a no, then."

"I appreciate the concern Mahiru; but nothing will change that man's mind because to him, I am nothing but a mere possession…and I know it," she spat, her eyes tearing again. "I just…I'm tired and we have school tomorrow. I'd just…I'd like to go to bed now."

Nodding, Mahiru returned to her desk as Keiko crawled under her comforter, facing the window so Mahiru could not see her tears. But the blonde haired girl was no fool; sniffles were clue enough to tell her that Keiko was unhappy about something. _'Maybe tomorrow she'll feel better, and she'll feel like talking…though no one can say for sure.' _Sighing, she returned to the task of her daunting homework assignment, finally completing chemistry and moving on to History as Mr. Denall was quite a force to be reckoned with when homework was not completed. And despite the fact that he was not going to be there, if she did not finish her part and teach it well, something told her she would be in for a world of trouble when he got back. Snorting softly to herself, she opened her history book and began a layout that would explain her part in the simplest, most comprehendible terms for her classmates. As it was she liked to keep things simple no matter what, mainly because it helped her along as well without too many difficulties. Blinking quickly, she picked up her pen and began jotting down important points on her outline, hoping that it would suffice as a teaching lecture—she wasn't sure if she had to turn it in to Mr. Denall, not yet. '_It's always better to do it as best you can then, just incase._' She was halfway in when she realized Keiko had fallen asleep; smiling, she jumped to turn off the light in her room before switching on her little desk lamp. '_Good night Keiko._'

* * *

((A/N: It's about a month or two later; Mahiru's been working at the club a lot, and she's changed))

* * *

Mahiru pushed through rack after rack of clothing, eyeing it tastefully or distastefully as she tried to find some new clothes. She'd received both paychecks in her direct deposit a week before and finally decided it was time to go purchase a new wardrobe—she wasn't so pleased with her old one anymore. She sighed as Keiko continued to talk to Akira, animated as they both enjoyed their time, seemingly too involved in each other. Nozomu had offered to come but was pulled back when Misoka had said something about another out of town meeting. She was going to ask Mitsuru but, once again, he'd been M.I.A. from work. 'Come to think of it…he's been M.I.A. for quite some time.' When she'd asked about his health, everyone had looked at her like she was crazy. Then she'd been informed that he was away at a workshop for their inventory position; he had trainings every now and then. She thought this odd because she believed she should be attending them as well. But once again, when she'd asked, she'd been informed that the workshop was for advanced inventory associates like Mitsuru, who'd been working there for years. Shrugging at the recollection she continued going through the selection of clothes like water, not really liking too much of it from the particular rack she'd been browsing through for the past ten minutes. 

Giving up, she went to the next one where she also noticed there was a nice, colorful variety of shoes ranging from flat sandals to stiletto heels. Cringing at the thought of Lucy's stiletto heels, she opted for the more conservative, comfortable heels or flats for the spring time, when it arrived. There were also a lot of boots available in many colors though the majority were black as it was a popular color that went with everything. She immediately headed for the medium sized heels, plucking a small pair of peasant-like shoes with grooved edges in the front. They were slightly rounded at the tops with a type of suede looked to them; she noticed them in green as well. Taking a glance at her basket she frowned when she realized how little she'd actually found: the shoes in her hand, a couple of camisoles, a shrug and one skirt. She, Keiko and Akira had been shopping for well over two hours; she didn't understand how these were the only things she could have chosen. Falling against the shoe rack, she let out an annoyed and defeated sigh just as said friends rounded the corner, almost knocking her over. Keiko was the first to notice her somber state. Akira just blinked, somewhat unsure about why she felt so crappy.

"Mahiru, did you find everything all right?" Keiko questioned.

The person in question shook her head. "No…I barely found anything! Ugh…I could wear this outfit at least twice before I'd have to wash it…and I couldn't re-wear it three or four days in a row…" She pointed to the basket.

Keiko took a look inside, curious. When she saw what Mahiru had chosen she smiled. "But Mahiru, that's a good start!"

"But it's been over two hours!" Mahiru wailed.

"Doesn't good shopping take longer than two hours? It's gotta take at least a whole day, right?" Akira replied. Both young women looked at him. He smiled nervously. "Well, that's Nozomu and Katsura used to tell me."

It was only seconds before Mahiru jumped at him, her basket forgotten as she grabbed his hands while Keiko grabbed his sleeves. "You mean you like to go shopping? No wonder you agreed to go with us!"

Akira blushed as he tried to back away, his cheeks reddening. "No, no! I don't LIKE shopping! It's just that when we have to go, Katsura and Nozomu used to say…"

Suddenly Mahiru dropped his hands, scratching her head. "How…I'm still confused…how long have you known Nozomu? My brother has never ever mentioned you guys…I don't know why…but—"

"Hey, look Mahi! It's Mitsuru!"

Keiko's shout practically scared her out of her skin, causing her to almost trip over her forgotten basket in the process. She looked slightly to her left and saw Mitsuru disappear into a darkened store. Curious, she made a mad dash to the register, putting her stuff on hold before jetting out in order to follow the aqua-haired youth. Keiko and Akira followed suit, officially out of breath by the time they spotted Mahiru disappearing into the same store as Mitsuru. She was busily browsing through the aisles, trying her best not to get lost in the dark attire, dim lighting and pounding music, when she finally spotted him a few feet away looking through a rack that held what appeared to be leather pants. Mahiru blinked. '_Leather…pants? Why in the world would he need leather pants? He doesn't wear them to class or work so…_' She was so absorbed with staring at him that she didn't quite realize he'd moved until she felt a tap on her shoulder; she froze up when she noticed Mitsuru was gone. '_Oh…no…something tells me this is bad…_' Turning around, she came face to face with a pair of narrowed, chocolate-colored orbs that seemed to radiate inquiry and irritation. Mahiru let a small giggle escape her lips before backing up into the nearest clothing rack as the person before her took two steps forward. She gasped when her back hit the cool metal of the rack; she'd run out of places to go. Smiling nervously, she raised her hand to give a small wave as she felt her legs begin to quiver. She was trapped.

"Oh…hello there Mitsuru, I didn't know you were here!"

He glared at her, one hand scratching the back of his neck in annoyance while the other reached for her wrist. "What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?"

Mahiru huffed as his fingers curled around her wrist firmly, possessively but gently at the same time. She felt a blush coming on but pushed it down as she attempted to pull away. "Listen you egotistical meanie, I have better things to do than follow you around! Please! I see you enough during the week as it is!"

"Then what are you doing here?" He asked, determined.

She was suddenly getting annoyed. "Oh give me a break! I am shopping you jerk! See? Akira and Keiko are right over there!" She pointed to where her friends were looking through the chain belts and wristbands on the next wall over. "Now, if you'd let me go, I'd REALLY appreciate it." After he'd released his grip on her wrist Mahiru proceeded to rub it, soothing the somewhat achy skin as she caught sight of Mitsuru glancing around. "Oh um…so…Mitsuru, what are you doing here?"

He glanced around again. "Oh…what? What do you mean? I'm picking something up, you dolt!"

"For who?" Mahiru questioned, her eyebrows raised as she ignored his insult. "You know someone who wears leather pants, chain belts, wristbands and…" She picked up a bottle of black nail polish. "Black nail polish?"

He blanched, turning away from her as he crossed his arms. "No, idiot. I'm here to pick up some inventory stuff…for the workshop."

She didn't notice the hesitance in his voice; therefore, she simply nodded as Akira and Keiko disappeared into the shadows. She followed him halfway to the register before she whirled around and fixed her with his infamous death glare. She let out a small squeak at this, stumbling a little as he took a hold of her wrist again, this time yanking her forward until they reached the register, where she almost hit the edge from the force of his pull. She settled against it as the man working started conversing with Mitsuru, preoccupied. While this happened, Mahiru leaned her full weight against the counter, somewhat leaning on Mitsuru as well though if he noticed, she didn't know. He hadn't pushed her away yet. Smiling, she felt herself drifting off into sleep, her eyes droopy and heavy. Everything that had transpired had her tired beyond all belief, and she still had yet to talk to Keiko about Akira. Allowing her eyes to close, she let her full weight rest on Mitsuru's side. She was almost asleep when she vaguely heard their conversation stop, and Mitsuru's arm was suddenly around her shoulders, holding her. She peeked open an eye as she realized that Keiko and Akira were standing to Mitsuru's unoccupied side; they appeared to be conversing rather quietly. She didn't even strain to hear when their loud goodbye filtered in her ears. And suddenly she was being picked up in Mitsuru's arms and carried to who-knew-where. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pretended to be asleep when Mitsuru started mumbling about things she could barely understand. After a minute or two of pretending, she really did fall asleep.

Mitsuru grumbled the entire way to his car, ignoring the many stares and curious looks he was receiving from people passing by as he carried Mahiru in his arms. He was already irritated that he'd run in to her, specifically because he was shopping for new outfits but didn't want her to know about it. He hadn't the slightest clue she'd be shopping on the same day; he cursed himself for not thinking about it. '_But why would I? It's not like I'd need to know her schedule…or want to._' Shaking his head, he placed her slumbering form in the passenger's seat before climbing into the driver's seat and revving the engine. He pushed his radio button to on, lowering the volume as the music blasted into the once quiet atmosphere. Evidently, he didn't do it quick enough because Mahiru jolted awake, sitting upright so fast that she smacked her head on his shoulder since he'd leaned over to roll down her window. Mitsuru let out a small groan as he rubbed his aching shoulder while Mahiru rubbed her head in accord. A moment later he was turning to her as she continuously rubbed her head, his hand coming up until it rested on her own. She paused, her heart racing as she looked up at his dark eyes, not sure of what to do when he gave her a quick look over. She blinked in shock when his hand rubbed over her own, soothing the ache in her head as he inspected for cuts or bruises. When he was done, Mahiru tried hard to keep the blush from showing on her face as he closed the driver's side door and turned the ignition on fully. Sitting back into the cushioned seat, she brought her hand back to her head once again.

"So…I um…sorry about your shoulder Mitsuru," she said, her voice quavering.

He shrugged. "It's fine. How is…um…how is your head? I didn't see any bruises or uh…cuts…" he trailed off as she blushed.

"Oh it's…it's fine, I think. Thank you."

Silence hung in the air as he nodded. "Well…it's time to take you home, stupid idiot."

She scowled. "And to think you were just being so nice, you jerk!" She spat as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Just take me home so I don't have to see you!"

"Fine!" He shouted back as silence fell once again, save for the radio.

Mahiru crossed her arms and stared out the window as Mitsuru drove on. She really hated her bad luck. An hour later found her thanking Keiko endlessly for the package that was sitting in her house when she arrived home. According to Nozomu, Keiko had purchased all Mahiru's chosen—and some non-chosen—clothes and delivered it to her house. There had been a noted inside, which Mahiru had blushed at, and a few pairs of shoes as well. Five minutes after the package had been found, Mahiru was in her room coordinating outfits in front of her hanging door mirror. Sighing, she plopped onto her bed, somewhat satisfied with what she had. But something was bothering her, and she knew what it was. All she could really think about was what had happened between her and Mitsuru earlier that day. _'I have got to be crazy…because why does he look like he wants to kiss me…? It's either that or I'm delusional…_' Hitting her head on her pillow in frustration, Mahiru quietly turned off her desk lamp and turned her tired eyes towards the moonlit sky as she started to drift off into sleep. '_Well…I'm done with that. This is the new Mahiru Shiraishi…and she's not waiting around for jerk-face Mitsuru to notice her.'_

**Mitsuru…promise me that one day…you'll want to be my friend?**

**She's not going to make it; the chances are slim. **

**You are so annoying.**

**Mahiru, this is Akira and Misoka. **

**You guys are so much fun!**

**Mahiru, I lo— **

Mahiru flew up in bed, tears falling down her face. She reached up, touching the warm droplets in surprise and confusion. _'What's is this...?'_

**

* * *

**

_(Ah…it's finally been posted after the long year of The Writer's Block of DEATH! Ha…how horrible! Well, not much else to say except that I hope I'm getting over the hill with my writer's block…hopefully! Hope you enjoyed it. Hell, flames are welcome since I took so long. Thanks to all who are still reading! Cookies for all of you!)_

Chocomintswirl


	7. There is no way

_Note to Disclaimers: I do not own Crescent Moon so don't sue me. This is pretty standard, right? _

**A/N: The story is still quite A/U and now it's starting to get quite M-rated so don't complain to me about warnings, ok kids? Not old enough—DON'T READ IT. And if you do well, don't get caught by your parents or complain—it was YOUR choice, after all. Hope you enjoy.**

Word Coding:

'_Thoughts'_

"Speaking"

Everything else

* * *

**A Life Best Kept Secret

* * *

**

The next morning was like any other since that night she'd heard the fateful voices. Mahiru was awakened by the sound of her brother's footsteps up and down the hallway, before they paused at her door. She already knew he was going to wake her up but she couldn't stop thinking about the voices in her head, particularly the phrase that had been running through her mind for the past four to five hours, as well as the past month. Keiko had called her early that morning, earlier than Nozomu waking up, and mentioned that she needed to talk to her. Mahiru had obliged only to be questioned as to why she was still up when said friend called her. Blowing it off, she simply told Keiko that she'd gotten up for water minutes earlier, and was getting into bed when she heard the phone ring. In truth, Mahiru was beyond tired, having tossed and turned all night and as a result, to have not slept at all. Her eyes were slightly red from the slight tears that she'd cried and she felt thoroughly sick.

"Mahiru?"

The young blonde in question continued to stare at the white wall before her, resolute. She sniffled as the thoughts returned to her.

_'Mahiru, I love you.' 'This is Akira and Misoka.' 'Mahiru, I love you.' 'She's not going to make it.' _

_'Mahiru, I love you.'_

"Mahiru?"

She sat up so fast she almost hit Nozomu in the head; he steadied her before she fell off the bed, too. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Who loves me?" She hadn't quite registered that Nozomu was there.

"What? We all do," Nozomu replied as Mahiru began to shiver.

"Oh, Nozomu," she finally seemed to come to. "Hi, good morning."

"We're you having a bad dream?"

She shook her head in hopes to hide her anxiety. "Oh, no I just...was recalling something from uh...never mind. So, what's for breakfast? I'm kind of...not that hungry this morning so..."

"Are you not sleeping very well? You look so pale Mahiru."

She blanched. "No, I'm fine! I'm just a little tired from my homework and work...it's just something temporary, nothing to worry about brother!"

He gave her another one of his suspicious looks. "Well, if you insist."

"I'm fine, really," she replied with a nod. "Oh, what day is it?"

He looked perplexed. "What do you mean? It's Tuesday."

"Crap! I have school!" Mahiru flailed her arms wildly as she leapt out of bed and made a mad dash for her bathroom. However, she successfully landed on her bottom after having tripped on her backpack, which was in the middle of the floor. She let out a groan as she stared at the doorway and heard Nozomu laugh at her. "Shut up, you…this is not funny!"

"Well, truthfully, I came in to tell you that school has been cancelled. I received an email early this morning, which mentioned something about one of the major circuit breakers needing repair or something of the like." Nozomu said as he went to help her up. "So…what were you going to do today?"

She looked around, thoughtful. "I think I'll go work at the store if Akira okay's it. I'm kind of…saving up for something…so I could always use the extra money."

"Yeah, well, just don't overdo it Mahiru," he answered as he began to close her door. "Actually, I might have to go out of town again today, most likely in a couple hours so…I suppose I'll see you later then—a few days, I'd surmise."

"Oh…ok…well, have a safe trip and call me when you get there?" He nodded enthusiastically. "Bye!" She waved cheerfully as she turned to look out the window. '_I think I'll work both jobs tonight since Nozomu won't be around to catch me!_' As soon as she was sure he was gone and would have no further questions for her, she slumped against her window sill as a few tears fell from her eyes. Burying her head in her arms, she tried to push the incessant voices away from her conscious. _'Please…why won't you just go away?'_

Despite her many haunting nightmares, a few hours later found Mahiru busily working at the record store, Keiko with her. The soft clicking of small, one-inch heels could be heard clattering through the aisles of the store from every end. There were various customers around, most who were absorbed in exploring new or selected genres of music as opposed to carelessly purchasing trash with their precious paychecks or chump change. They didn't seem to notice the noise. Shifting from one foot to the other in a natural sway as she walked towards the back, the young blonde popped her gum loudly as she dove deeper in thought. Her blue-brown eyes were focused ahead as she waited, patiently, for her work shift to end. Her feet no longer hurt from wearing heels all the time, nor did her lack of sleep seem so evident. No one ever asked her about it anymore. Things were slowly beginning to change, she knew—but still, no one asked. Instead of wearing jeans to work now, accompanied by her usual cute shoes or sneakers, a sweater and a nice shirt, she opted for a different style. In place of her old clothes came fiery new articles, usually a skirt with a tank top or a combination of bright camisoles, heeled shoes and a fancy set of soft cotton shrugs. Her hair had now adopted a slightly red look to it, going from a soft, golden blond to a soft strawberry blonde with gentle highlights of pink. It was as daring as she felt she could go, with her clothes too.

Ever since she'd begun working at the club, her lifestyle had been so different from that particular atmosphere. But now more than a few months into the job, she started trying new things, new styles—her tastes grew. Though she still dressed conservatively, she had added more spice to her original wardrobe, which had been mature and frumpy at best, she thought. If she'd thought no one had noticed, she didn't know how wrong she actually was. Letting a small sigh escape her pursed lips, Mahiru fell back against the nearest crate as the door swung back and forth behind her. The air inside the room was thick and musty, smelling of old boxes, new boxes and the faintest hint of amber mixed with eucalyptus. _'Mitsuru must be here, then_,' she assumed. Ever since she'd started working with the short-tempered youth she had immediately noticed what he smelled like most of the time. It was a unique scent, granted; but it was also too intoxicating for her to function when it overcame her. She held her breath, hoping to miss inhaling too much of the aroma as she made her way to the wall opposite the loading bay—her own alphabetized carts of vinyls and CDs sat there. A little later on into their working together Mitsuru refused to have to put up with her disorganization; therefore they had made her a separate wall for her job so that Mitsuru could continue doing his effectively, and unbothered by her messiness.

Mahiru twiddled her fingers as she fell onto the little loveseat in the center of the wall, thankful that it was in fair shape and absent of living visible creatures—microscopic organisms didn't count in her opinion—and mold, crossing her legs as she did so. Her finger went to play with the hem of her silky shirt, enamored with the way it felt against her skin. '_Like my apron_,' she thought, idly. Her mind was operating on a slow, steady, rhythmic pace as she hummed to an unknown tune; it was short lived, however, as she looked up. There was a loud thump followed by a string of rather offensive albeit colorful obscenities as Mitsuru came stumbling through the door, a large cardboard box in his hand. Normally Mahiru would rush to help anyone who needed it, or at least appeared to; but with Mitsuru, that was never the case. Folding her arms over her chest, she popped her gum again and picked up the nearest magazine, leafing through it was mild interest. From his vantage point Mitsuru could feel his blood boil at the fact that she didn't offer to help him like she usually did, like she used to. Setting the box down in a haphazard fashion, Mitsuru stomped over to her, his face red from work while beads of sweat slid down his forehead from exertion. Mahiru exhaled in annoyance.

"What is it Mitsuru? Did you need something?"

His nostrils flared in contempt. When had she become so confident and nonchalant? Where was the sweet Mahiru he enjoyed seeing? Shaking his head angrily, Mitsuru fell to a squat on his haunches until they were at eye level, his brown eyes meeting hers. She looked at him with little interest, just like the magazine. Mitsuru bristled. "You're supposed to be alphabetizing those carts," he replied through gritted teeth as he pointed towards the door to the loading area. Her eyes followed his finger acutely before she shrugged indifferently. "You seem them, right, you dumb girl?"

She nodded, her face holding a recently trademark impassive look. "Yeah, so what? I'm on break anyway. Akira said it was fine and the store is slow right now…why should I rush? Besides…I'm not even REALLY supposed to be here today." He huffed and she chuckled. "Is there a problem Mitsuru? I don't recall anyone saying you were my boss."

"I'm still your superior," he spat.

"But not my boss…not the same thing, you know," she answered, still flipping through the meaningless pages. "Just admit it, you big meanie…you wanted me to help you, or at least ask if you needed help."

At least the way she talked hadn't changed that much. He shook his head vigorously. "Stop changing the subject, you twit." She ignored him, face glued to the glossy pages before her eyes. Mitsuru fumed loudly. "Well, I'm going for my lunch break. The least you could do is watch the room while I'm out."

She nodded, still ignoring his every move as he threw her a disdainful look before stomping away, childishly. Once he had disappeared, Mahiru set the magazine back down on the desk table located to her right and stood, stretching until her muscles awakened again. The noise outside the inventory room had reached a considerably high level in a matter of minutes causing Mahiru to grow curious of the reason. She carefully peeked through the door in search of a valid reason and found that it was indeed a valid reason. Akira had jumped on the counter, pretending to strum to an invisible guitar while Keiko lip-synced to Utada Hikaru's rendition of "I love you." It wasn't entirely uncommon for the workers in the store to do such things but Mahiru found it slightly curious nonetheless. With a genuine smile on her face, she headed towards the couch again, leaving the scene in the main room behind her. It had only been a measly two minutes and Mitsuru wasn't due back to work for another 28. She groaned in irritation as she picked up the couch pillow, stuffing it under her arm as a cushion as she leaned onto the hard arm. The inventory room was always full of junk, mainly cut up cardboard boxes and plastic wrapping—it was her job to clean it. But today there was nothing to clean as Mitsuru had yet to unload boxes. She'd been subjected to cleaning because Mitsuru complained about her competency to do things properly and efficiently, not messily and disorganized. '_Yet another time where I seem completely inadequate_.'

However, she did admit that they appreciated her focus on the job, her hard work and her ability to help customers in a friendly fashion when Akira and Keiko were stranded at the registers. Mitsuru was rarely seen in the customer service area as he had piled up so many complaints and write ups from Oboro for his lack of skills. Mitsuru by himself and without people bothering him was an excellent worker; with people or too many interactions, he was dangerous, she noted. Yet he seemed to work fine with her, simply yelling at her and harassing her when he saw fit. Mahiru had to wonder about this since in all the reports from the last employees had mentioned his violent temper getting out of hand, the main reasons for employees quitting, not getting fired or laid off. Suddenly in a deep wonder about his past, Mahiru threw herself from the couch and headed in the direction of Oboro's office. Misoka and Nozomu had left for another business meeting that afternoon—a commonality now, which she was used to—and would not be back until the store closed, which was a good seven hours away. Oboro himself had not returned from his previous business adventures, and so the office was empty. She caressed the key and it chain, which dangled on her neck. After they'd left, Akira had given her the key to hold for him, afraid he might lose it in the throng of people who came into the store. In the wrong hands, it could be disastrous. However, she knew snooping around was wrong, but she had to know—no one would notice anyway.

Sticking the key into the doorknob lock, she slowly turned it, satisfied with the soft click that resounded in the darkened hall. The music from up front was still going on and Mitsuru was nowhere insight; she checked her watch. '_He still has 20 minutes…and so do I_,' she mused as she gently pushed the door open with her hands pressed against it. It was pitch black in the office, the faint scent of sakura and cherry drifting about. She could hear the soft running water from Oboro's therapeutic Zen waterfall, comforting in times of stress. Once inside, she closed the door quietly before flicking on the lights and heading straight for the desk drawer where she knew the employee files were kept. It had a lock, of course. But this did not deter Mahiru as she began a quick search for the desk key, triumphant when she found it lying underneath a picture of him and a woman named Katsura. After carefully opening the drawer she immediately scanned for Mitsuru's files. When found, she basically tore it apart looking for signs about his past. According to his record he had been a delinquent orphan at the age of 5 and was given to the nearest orphanage until Oboro took him in. It went on to list all his "mental problems" and medical history. And though she was rather interested in his history, she heard someone coming. Mahiru gasped when she came to a small note in red pen. Squinting her eyes to read it, she gasped for the second time, almost dropping the folder—someone was coming. Shoving everything back in the desk, she dashed for the door, clumsily locking everything as she went. She barely managed to make it outside while looking as though she'd casually come from the bathroom. She was almost to the door when Mitsuru burst through, his eyes showing blatant accusation. She blanched; feeling caught, but forced her flush down and smiled as brightly as possible.

"Yes, what is it Mitsuru?"

He shot her another accusatory glare as he turned away from her, abruptly. "What were you doing? I came back and the room was empty! This isn't a playhouse, you idiot."

Slightly affronted by his comment but partially relieved he suspected nothing; she simply stuck her tongue out at him though she knew he didn't see. "Oh get off your high horse, Mitsuru. I simply went to the bathroom is all. Geez…can't I even go to the restroom?"

"Yeah, whatever…don't make excuses for your lack of dedication," he retorted sardonically. "Just get back to work."

Shaking her head as she passed him, Mahiru could only frown. "One day of being nice to me couldn't possibly kill you Mitsuru, so maybe you should try it sometime."

"You are an idiot," he replied with rancor as he half pushed her through the doorway. He was less than rough, she noted, as his hands stayed lightly on her lower back. She wanted to ask him why, badly, but refrained from inquiry, instead opting to give him a questionable glare. He fired back, as usual. "What is it you dummy?"

"Nothing," she answered, her eyes rolling to the side as she walked away from him. "I'm going back outside to the main floor for shelving."

He watched as she sauntered out, her gait steady and confident as she exited the door. His mind couldn't seem to focus on anything but the light sway of her hips and the soft sound of her heels clacking on the linoleum floor. Running a hand through his aqua locks, Mitsuru let out a frustrated sigh as he fell down on the couch, eyes narrowed. He couldn't understand any of it, not for the life of him, why he was suddenly so interested in getting to know the blonde haired young woman. They'd gone to school together for almost seven years. Why hadn't they talked during high school or elementary school? It seemed almost strange that she suddenly found him so familiar, yet so unfamiliar. In school, recently, she'd been apt to sitting with him, bothering him, trying to talk to him. But that was more than three months prior. Now, mainly at work, she was a completely different person, always leaving him alone, not asking him anything, ignoring him. He wasn't sure which he'd liked more: her leaving him alone, or her giving him the attention he craved. '_Maybe that's why I took that job…I don't even know anymore…_' Slipping his head into his hands, arms propped on his kneecaps, Mitsuru exhaled a shaky breath. His muscles had been more than tense lately, his headaches coming two-fold and eyes struggling to resist redness from lack of sleep. He'd been covering up that problem with a healthy dose of clear eyes and his headaches with some type of aspirin. As for his weak knees, he'd been taking frequent breaks in between working and school to gain his strength back. And yet it always seemed to disappear when most needed.

He could hear the murmuring of Mahiru's cheerful voice as she helped a customer find a particular CD in her section. He hated to admit it but she was one of the best co-workers he'd ever had to work with, not counting her disorganization. Their compatibility was wonderful aside from their constant tiffs over trivial things, and Mitsuru found himself smiling ever so slightly at the thought that she was the first to never really judge him. '_She's given me a chance…when no one else would…but then again…she always did._' However, his smile was short lived as a scowl covered his face, his eyes hardening. '_I don't need anyone…she'll just run away when she finds out…_' Shaking his head, he pushed himself off the couch just as Mahiru's hand could be seen opening the door. Ignoring her, he made his way towards the unopened boxes that needed sorting, his walk slower than usual and his eyes dropping ever so little. She didn't appear to notice anything out of the ordinary as Mitsuru slash across the top of the nearest box, his fingers trembling as he did so.

With his back to her, he continued working as though he hadn't realized she'd entered, his shoulder shaking in tiredness. Mahiru inhaled a large breath as she slipped her time card into its slot, eager to leave work for the hour break she received from the end of work at the store to the beginning of work at the club. It was exactly 3:45 PM on a glorious Tuesday afternoon; the sun was still out and high in the sky. She had received word from the school email bulletin that classes had been cancelled due to some rather expensive school electrical units having burned out. That was around 7:30 in the morning when Nozomu had informed her of the email. After that, she called in to work with Keiko, offering to work the same day, which Akira agreed to enthusiastically. With no school that day, she was eager for a night of liveliness, even if it was at work, which had her slightly annoyed because she didn't usually work on Tuesday nights, or mornings, for that matter. '_Oh well…some things can't be helped…and I need the money anyway!_' Reaching for her bag that contained her future night life within it, Mahiru slung it over her shoulder, almost strutting towards the exit.

She barely opened the door when she whipped around to say bye to Mitsuru; she was surprised to see him gone. "Mitsuru?" He did not answer, and Mahiru shook her head in disappointment, her eyes downcast. "Well, I had wanted to see him before I left…I think he hates me more than before…" The door was almost closed when she turned back to the empty room. "Bye Mitsuru."

A soft click could be heard in the room. Mitsuru swallowed hard as he leaned up against the nearest crate, which hid his whole body, and let out a sigh of relief. His heart was hammering in his chest at her last statement, his hand to his forehead. Fatigue pierced his rational thoughts and seized his limbs as he continued leaning against the crate for support. She'd been rather nonchalant to him as of the late that he didn't think it possible for her to speak in such a way. Her words had been genuine, worried, concerned—almost saddened that she hadn't been able to say goodbye. His mind drew a blank; but why? Cursing as he stood on wobbly legs, Mitsuru managed to make it to the couch before collapsing, somewhat sweaty and confused as he stared at the door. Akira's voice drifted through but he paid it no mind, his thoughts wandering to Mahiru once again. The now strawberry blonde haired girl had been the most confusing person he'd met in his life. Since they'd been going to school together, he began remembering instances when she tried to befriend him before high school and even a little after—it irked him. He'd shunned her each and every time, a misunderstood youth who hung out by himself, a loner who would hide behind the building during breaks and brood over his life. Normally, anyway. But he wasn't like other teens; and he was like all teens. At the time, he had been desperately in need of friends, of a family, of some type of concrete grounding. Nothing helped, back then.

High school had been the same as elementary school and when he broke free of it all, he was hoping, somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, that college life would be far different. Nevertheless, it didn't seem so as he spent most afternoons working in the store, friendless with the exception of his surrogate family. His first year of college had been hell with such a schedule and no social life to speak of—unless counting his interactions with customers was included. He had very little money to spare since he was still trying to pay Oboro back for everything he'd done. '_Yeah…that'll take a hundred freakin years…'_ he mused as he made small circles on the couch arm, evidently bored out of his mind. And so college continued this way: boring, uneventful and humdrum—until she walked back into his life. That she didn't remember him was too shocking to handle, and maybe, just maybe, he was a bit bitter that she didn't. '_After all…she was the only one who ever cared…_' Though they had never been good friends throughout school before college, she had always visited him and checked in on him. '_How could she not remember me? She used to pester me any chance she got!_' Something odd was going on. He couldn't describe it. Shaking his head again, which only seemed to make his headache worsen, Mitsuru returned to his work, deciding that whatever he was questioning would have to wait until he could corner Mahiru and make her talk. '_And I will,_' he vowed, eyes narrowed. '_I will._'

* * *

Mahiru sighed, bored, with her head in her hands as she took in the slowness of the Club. It was only 6:00, after all. The club didn't get busy until about 7:00 PM. She'd been at work for an hour. Lucy was busy assisting a possible business partner when the door suddenly opened, flooding the dimly lit, musty area with gorgeous sunlight. The strawberry blonde haired woman blanched as she saw Hokuto walk in, Keiko defiantly at his side. Gasping, she ducked behind the bar, not wanting her friend to see where she worked lest she tell Nozomu. She was crawling towards the back when she bumped into someone's foot. Glancing up, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw her co-worker, Alina, giving her a weird stare. Grabbing her leg, Mahiru brought the brunette down with her, making a show of silence. "Alina, did you see a woman out there with greenish colored hair?"

Alina nodded, "Yeah Mahi, I did. Why? You know her or something?"

She nodded furiously. "Yes, that's my best friend. But she can't see me here…so if Lucy asks, I'm on my break, ok?"

Alina laughed as she agreed. "Sure thing Mahi, I'll let her know."

With a grateful smile she disappeared behind the employee door, her arms trembling slightly at almost being caught. As she slumped against the nearest couch arm, she inhaled a deep breath as she fell onto the couch completely, annoyed that she was wasting her fifteen minute break because she was almost discovered. Brushing her bangs from her face, she decided to wait until Alina retrieved her from the break room with an ok signal. Her eyes felt heavy and she knew she was pushing her limits—but the money influx she'd been receiving the past few months made it all the more worth her time. Scooting to the end of the couch that was nearest to the vending machines, Mahiru plucked a dollar from her pocket. After sticking it into the machine's dollar bill slot, she browsed the various options of coffee; the selections were pleasing to the eye. She was getting close to giving up when she spotted a simple hot chocolate and pressed the button with the mild satisfaction that it was at least whipped. As she waited for the beverage to dispense she pondered how she was going to complete her chemistry project in time for the mid-term, which was coming up in the next few days. She knew she needed a partner and Keiko had already chosen Akira, much to Mahiru's dismay. As she cradled the steaming drink between her soft hands, she idly wondered whether or not Mitsuru would agree to work with her—though a tantrum seemed more likely.

'_But…I still need a partner, so…Mitsuru will have to agree to it…or I'll make him agree to it,_' she thought with a wry smile, her eyes dancing with mischief. She was halfway into her third sip when Alina came through the doorway, her electric blue hair sticking every which way, signaling that she'd probably been in the back digging through the supply closet for something. Mahiru chuckled. "Are you all right Ally?"

The slightly older woman smiled as she tipped her head to the side. "Yeah. That woman and her man friend just left. She looked positively murderous, I have to say. Although…the man on her arm, well, he was quite the handsome image of a bachelor."

"Yeah well, tell Keiko that. They're engaged to get married, after all," Mahiru retorted, amused.

"Really? She didn't seem the least bit excited about being in here with him," Alina replied, curious. "How long have they been engaged?"

"Since the beginning of High school, if I'm remembering correctly," Mahiru answered. "However, she bristles every time I ask about their engagement so…I'm assuming she isn't happy about it. But, she's my friend and I won't ask anything more about it unless she volunteers information, Ally; it's too sensitive of a topic."

She shrugged. "I'm sorry to hear that. But it seems like you're a great friend Mahiru, not pushing the subject or anything. It must be great to have such a good friend."

As she exited, Mahiru couldn't help but notice how sad Alina sounded when she'd said her piece. '_Almost like…she has no friends_.' Not wanting to leave the issue alone, Mahiru arose from the couch to follow suit, wanting to help her co-worker in any way she could. But by the time she reached the main floor, people were beginning to arrive into the club, ranging from employees to customers. Glancing at her watch she was surprised to see that it was already 6:45 PM. '_How long was I back there?_' Ignoring it, as Lucy had said nothing to her when she'd emerged; Mahiru simply took up her waitress tray and began taking orders as soon as people were seated. She'd taken at least five separate ones when Alina ran over to her, breathless. Mahiru smiled wearily as the brunette rattled off a list of drinks that needed preparation. Taking her list and Alina's, Mahiru ran over to the bar where Lucy and her other co-worker, Sasuke, were preparing drinks as fast as they could. She could vaguely hear Rupert's voice drifting from the other room as he read the list for the night's acts and such; she shook her head. Rupert, their boss, was the one that ran most everything in the surrounding area of the club, including the club itself. However, she would be a dope if she hadn't noticed his strange relationship with Lucy. Yama seemed to be hanging around a lot more as well, and she didn't think it had anything to do with their school work.

But she did not have time to dwell on such thoughts as she set a tray of drinks before Alina's bewildered face. No sooner than she had put it down, it had disappeared with Alina into the growing crowd of patrons. Lucy, too, was whipping out drinks as fast as possible while Sasuke ran to the back to retrieve more bottles of needed alcohol. Mahiru was content in finishing them up as they had developed an assembly line type of method. Her fingers worked like clockwork to add the last touches to drinks before Alina carted off more, her mind on automatic pilot as most customers ordered their usual drinks. She paused midway when she noticed she was running out of Kahlua, which was a rarely asked for drink. Puzzled, she scanned the crowded bar in search for any new patrons. When she spotted none she shrugged her shoulders and returned to work just as Sasuke brought in a fresh bottle of the caffeine flavored drink. It seemed as though the rest of the night was likely to become busier, if possible, and that meant a longer shift than Mahiru anticipated. '_Hm…and tomorrow I have class early in the morning. If I'm out of here by at least 11:00 PM…then I should be all right…oh, wait…tomorrow is Wednesday. 'No class, duh!_' Somehow, she had managed to convince Keiko and Akira that she did not need them to sleepover in her brother's absence. After the incident it was like a heightened security field had been issued by Nozomu. Rolling her eyes, she continued working, a small smile making its way onto her lips as she thanked the higher powers that her brother cared for her so much.

Meanwhile, Keiko and Akira were walking down the deserted residential block. It was only 9:00 PM and they had decided to go check up on Mahiru. Keiko had given her word that she would make sure nothing happened to her friend while Nozomu and Misoka left for business meetings and such. So, of course, when she arrived on Mahiru's doorstep, knocked and there was no answer, she became worried. It was only moments after she'd knocked for the second time that she noticed all the lights were out, with the exception of the porch light. Puzzled, she went around the back to check the back door. Akira followed suit, curious and uncertain of what the older girl was doing when it was clearly obvious to him that Mahiru was either not home or already in bed. When Keiko realized that all the doors were locked, the lights were out, and the windows closed, she was convinced that Mahiru had gone to bed rather early. '_Probably had a hard day at work and with all that make-up homework and extra homework from tutoring…I'd be sleepy too_.' Although she doubted that this was the reason, she let it go. As they continued down the block back to her own house, Keiko gave her friend's house one last fleeting glance, an uneasy feeling creeping into her mind before she rejoined in conversation with Akira.

They walked for what seemed like hours though in reality it had been mere minutes, only stopping once they'd arrived at the nearest little tea house in the urban area. Akira opened the door for Keiko to step in, the moonlight shining down on every visible part of the city. Couples were walking around, few and far in between, and enjoying the beautiful, cool, quiet evening, lost in each other. A part of Keiko—a part she'd done a good job of hiding—was somber about these couples around them, though she and Akira gave the appearance of one. But how her reality threw them off; she and Akira were no couple, thanks to Hokuto. '_Although…he doesn't know just yet…and I don't think Akira does either.' _Sighing, she accepted the iced milk tea that Akira placed in her hand as he led them to a small, two-chaired table by the large, blue-tinted glass window that displayed the menu off drinks. After idly sipping her milk tea for a few seconds she found her eyes drifting to Akira's face; her own widened when his met hers. She felt the color drain from her face as he did not look away, his eyes bright and seemingly questioning. She paused; what was she supposed to say? She felt her fingers tremble as she clasped her cold drink as beads of cold water slid down the plastic exterior, slowly, until they landed against her skin.

"Keiko…I need to talk to you about something."

His voice broke the silence as she felt the beginnings of a blush rising to her cheeks. Nodding, she took another languid yet nervous sip of her drink. "Yes, what is it Akira?" The fact that he wasn't bouncing off the wall when telling her something was enough to bring Keiko to alert as she watched him glance around for a minute. When it appeared that he'd forgotten what he was going to say, she let out a gentle "ahem" that made him look back at her. "Yes, Akira, what is it? Have you forgotten already, silly?"

He scratched his head quickly before setting his hands on the table top, folded. It appeared as though he was trying hard to utilize any ounce of self control that he possessed. "I…uh…well, do you remember all those years back when we were kids…when we all lived in Upstate New York?"

She nodded. "Of course. How could I forget all that?"

He laughed nervously. "Well...even back then I've always kind of…" He paused; Keiko held her breath, hoping against hope he was going to say what she wanted to hear. "No, I uh…never really thought Nozomu's relationship with Mahiru was…weird. But a few days ago I thought I heard Mitsuru talking to himself about it; I don't think he knew I was there."

Her heart fell. "Oh…I didn't know…" She managed to reply as she averted her gaze. Her eyes were beginning to burn with unshed tears. '_Stupid Akira...you are so dense…'_

"That's the thing though…haven't you ever wondered where Mitsuru comes up with these ludicrous ideas?" He suddenly chuckled before taking a sip of his tea. "Anyway…I guess I just needed to tell somebody because it's been bothering me."

"Oh…I see…" She answered, sullen as she too took a sip of her tea. She glanced at her watch. "Oh, Akira…it seems I have to go home…please, do excuse me." She was halfway out the door when he shouted at her.

"Wait, Keiko! I can walk you home if you'd—"

She gave him a sullen yet somewhat cold smile. "Oh, no. That won't be necessary Akira. Thank you. See you at work."

Akira sat dumbfounded in his seat as he watched her figure disappear into the evening air, not quite sure what had just transpired. However, he knew one thing. Keiko Himura was extremely unhappy and mad. And he had not the slightest clue why.

* * *

Mahiru sighed as she watched Sasuke and Alina chat away next to the bar. The club had slowed down a little and she was finally able to take her break. She glanced around, searching for Lucy; she found her sitting at a table with Yama, laughing and seeming to enjoy herself. Rupert was nowhere in sight. Curiosity won the best of her. Slipping her apron back on, Mahiru proceeded to the secluded part of the club, the area hidden by curtains. It wasn't exactly off limits but she never worked there—it was not really open on her working shifts- Today, however, was an unusual shift for her so she decided to go as it appeared there was a show going on. Her hand reached for the curtain, her gaze slowly scoping out the patrons and people behind her where no one seemed to be paying her any attention; she slowly pulled the curtain back. The area inside was musty with dim lighting and a crowd of women, mainly, though there were a few sprinkles of men around. She didn't see anyone on the stage but the pole was a dead giveaway. '_I guess…it's a strip club, too_?' Something told her she'd been a dolt not to think so in the beginning but she shrugged it off. She took another step inside, the curtain falling behind her to conceal the area where the bouncer, Glenn, nodded for her to proceed all the way inside. '_So this is like a VIP part_.' It looked as though there was a special pricing to get in this place. Once again, curiosity got the best of her.

"Hey Glenn, is this a special part of the club?" She asked.

He laughed. "Yeah sure is. We got regulars who come here every Tuesday and Thursday."

"Is it a strip club?"

He laughed again. "More like private dancing, though there is some removal of clothes on the person's part. But at this time, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it's private dance—dancer's choice. So whoever is dancing gets to pick one lucky person to give a free, private dance to or…whatever else the dancer wants to do."

"So…is someone performing tonight or did the person choose someone?" She twiddled her fingers.

Glenn shook his head, allowing a group of giggly, college girls to pass through the velvet curtain. "Nope, not yet. He should be getting started in about…1 minute."

"Uh…he?" She looked flustered at his smirk.

"Yeah, the ladies can't resist this spitfire. He's been working here a couple years or so. Really gets the crowd going with his looks, his moves…he makes us the most money, too. Lucy got lucky when she hired this one." Glenn shook his head. "Too bad the ladies sometimes get the wrong idea. Why, is little Mahi interested?" Mahiru blinked but nodded, curious and suddenly very interested as she slapped Glenn's arm playfully. He chuckled. "Well, guess you're in luck." She raised a brow. "Eyes to the stage, little Mahi, and you'll see just what I mean."

Huffing, Mahiru turned her gaze to the stage just as the shadowy figure of the dancer stepped out, and the once silent crowd of women erupted in a fit of shrieks and wilds screaming. She couldn't see him just yet so she took another step closer until his form was revealed from the smoke. But nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

'_Mitsuru!'_

_TBC

* * *

_

_(AHAHAHAHA! Mitsuru, you've been discovered, ahahaha! I am so evil…but he'd make quite a hot stripper, gotta admit. Well, there's chappie 7. It seems I'm on a roll, so I hope to have chappie 8 out soon, too. Oh, and BIG A/N is that from now on, it'll start to get M-rated. Chapter 8, if anything will be more citrusy than these others. So be prepared. Thanks to all who have R&R and are still R&R. I love you all! Cookies for everyone :gives cookies to all: ) _

Chocomintswirl


	8. Call me back to dreams

_Note to Disclaimers: I do not own Crescent Moon so don't sue me. This is pretty standard, right? _

**A/N: The story is now, officially, M-rated. Not old enough—DON'T READ IT. And if you do well, don't get caught by your parents or complain—it was YOUR choice, after all. It's going to be A/U and that's not going to change, not at this point when the story is so far in already. Um…the plot is developing well, I think. Also, I will have a thanks page for my reviewers because you guys have been so faithful to this story even though I don't post chapters as quickly as most people would like. Well, not much of anything else to say, except that this is a bit of a filler chapter w/a little excitement—I like to think anyway. Hope you like it. The future chapters will be a little heavier. Enjoy the light one while you can. **

**:Warning: There IS definite CITRUSY/LEMON/LIME type of content following. Viewer's discretion is advised. **

Word Coding:

'_Thoughts'_

"Speaking"

Everything else

**A Life Best Kept Secret**

Movement, in its truest sense—that is what the young man on the stage was demonstrating as he swayed to the beat of the music, his arms caressing his own body, hypnotically. Was it love, or was it infatuation mixed with pungent passion that she felt underneath her skin, coursing through her veins like white fire, searing in her being? Her mind could not decide as she, once again, focused on the seductive gyration of his hips against the pole, his hair falling over his eyes as he peered out into the crowd. His lips parted as he inhaled, sensually, a large breath and released, the breath coming out in a low moan. She felt her face flush as she continued observing him. His hands began to pull at his shirt as he bent backwards, his chocolate colored eyes locking with hers—a look of slight alarm—as she took a step back, almost dropping her waitress tray. His aqua hair clung to his sweaty skin as he discarded his shirt into the screaming throng of women around him. The stage lights illuminated his now tanned complexion as one hand tangled itself in his dampened hair while the other snuck its fingers into the chainlike belts of his leather pants. He slowly began to undo his pants, from button to zipper before returning his lithe fingers back to his chest, running them over himself, his eyes closing in feigned arousal.

She fell back against the bar, her breathing heavy and labored as he licked his lips, grabbing the pole he'd previously been dancing with for another go. Her legs felt weak all of a sudden, as though she couldn't function properly, her eyes only on him. She gripped the railing of the glossed cherry wood surface, her hands turning white as she held onto it for support. She didn't trust herself to speak or think coherently as she tried to tear her eyes away; but her gaze would not leave the magical contours of his body, or his amazing ability to render her senseless. She would have melted into a puddle at the look he was giving her from the stage, but he suddenly stopped dancing. She sighed in slight relief as he walked to the edge of the stage, his body glistening with the work of his dancing, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and chest. However, she pulled her gaze away as she grabbed a few available glasses to fill with liquids. She was placing the now filled glasses on the tray when a voice broke her thoughts. She swiveled around to face the young man on the too-highly elevated platform.

"It's Tuesday night, isn't it?" He glanced around. Ladies screamed in reply. A smirk crept on his face as he leaned over the stage, winking at the crowd of crazed women. "Well, then, am I right to believe that it is private dance Tuesday?" Women shrieked in response. "Well, seems it's my choice then."

Mahiru wasn't sure what that meant but decided to ignore it as she went about her business like nothing had changed as shouts of "pick me" echoed around her. She was placing someone's order down in front of her when she realized the air around her was completely silent. She looked around. All the women were staring at her, and so was the young man on the stage. "Um…can I help you?" She asked nervously as she held her tray close to her chest. The women glared.

"You're my choice tonight, miss," Mitsuru replied as he hopped off the stage and gracefully made his way towards her, ignoring the many hands that reached out to touch him. She blanched as he took her hand in his, throwing the women a smile over his shoulder. "Thanks for your time ladies." As he dragged her towards one of the private suites behind the bar, he took her tray and tossed it on the counter. He snapped his fingers and a woman suddenly appeared in the clearing. Mahiru recognized the woman as her boss, Lucy. "Lu, she's my choice tonight. See that someone else takes her shift." Lucy nodded, a devious smile on her lips as they disappeared into the long hall of doors. Mitsuru selected one, opened it and shoved Mahiru through the door before locking it again. Her nervousness rose as he whirled around to face her, his eyebrows knitted together, his forehead creased in slight irritation. "What are you doing here?"

Mahiru blushed brightly. "I…Mitsuru…I work here."

"Since when?" He asked, pacing the length of the room with an anxiousness that Mahiru had never witnessed in him before.

She blushed again. "I've been working here for about six months…maybe more. I know I work at the store too, but the money just wasn't enough and…well…I needed another job. Oboro won't be angry with me, will he?"

He knew something fishy had been up, ever since the day she'd fainted in the store. Obviously this meant that Nozomu didn't know; she'd been working here for at least half—if not more, like she'd mentioned—the year and school was almost over. Mitsuru blinked. '_Is she gonna quit once school is over? And if that stupid bloodsucker doesn't know, then…_' No one knew, he realized as he spun around to face her. However, her look of questioning did not disappear and he strained to remember what she'd asked him minutes before. "I don't know. How come I haven't seen you around here at all before?" She was about to answer but he ignored her, sighing in frustration. "Listen, you didn't see any of this, got it? If Oboro knew about you…and if anyone else finds out about me…forget it, just forget it, stupid girl."

"Yes, Mitsuru…I understand," she replied quietly as she made to leave. She was almost at the door when he stopped her. "…Yes?"

"Where are you going?" His eyes were boring holes into hers as he approached her, his look rather predatory all of a sudden. As much as he was surprised and somewhat angry that she had caught him in such a degrading predicament, he couldn't deny the fact that he was attracted to her, whether he admitted it to her or not. He would not let her slip away from him so easily. Trying his best to appear disgruntled, he reached for her hand. "I chose you for the dance, and I must perform for you; it's my job."

"Oh, no…that's okay…I should be getting back to work," she answered as she nodded her head towards the door, a nervous smile on her face as she dodged his outreached hand. She all but yelped when he grabbed her hand and turned her back towards the couch. She twiddled her fingers when he guided her sit down on its cushioned surface. "Mitsuru…I…but Lucy and the customers…I—"

He silenced her as he pushed her against the back pillows of the furniture piece, standing over her with his hands on either side of her head. "It's been taken care of." He could have practically straddled her lap but decided against pleasing himself too quickly. Instead, he opted for putting his knee between her legs, pushing it up only far enough so that her waitress skirt was exposing a few inches of her milky thighs. She gasped at the contact as he lowered his head to her neck, gently brushing his lips over her heated skin as his eyes slid shut. Mahiru moaned as her head fell back against her own accord. Mitsuru felt his heartbeat quicken at the small, unintentional but pleasing sound. '_I've been waiting…I've wanted to do this for so long…Mahiru_,' he thought as his hands drifted up her legs, sliding up beneath her skirt. Mahiru's eyes were closed as well, her fingertips dropping onto Mitsuru's back as he continued to kiss his way down from her neck to the crook where her shoulder and collarbone met. Mahiru's mind was drifting off when she remembered why he'd brought her in the room to begin with.

Her eyes shot open as she pushed him off, her eyes blurry from brimming tears as she stared at his bewildered face. "Mitsuru, that…that isn't a dance! What were you…I don't…what just happened?" He gave her a blank stare, his insides furious at her for pushing him away. She blinked, fighting back confused tears as she turned towards the door. "Excuse me."

Just as she reached the door, Mitsuru bolted forward, taking hold of her wrist as he attempted to keep her in the dimly lit room. "No…Mahiru, wait!"

She stopped struggling as her name left his lips. "You said…Mitsuru…you said my name…" her eyes softened as his grip loosened, his unoccupied hand coming to rest against her cheek. "But I don't understand…you can't stand me…you hate me…"

"Is that what you really think?" he responded quietly as he brought his face to hers, his lips claiming her partially open pair as he brought both hands to her wrists, sliding them up so that her arms were crossed above her head. He had successfully pinned her against the wall, dominate again as he pressed his entire body against hers, which caused her back to completely mold against the wall. Mitsuru could feel his own pulse quicken as her lips moved beneath his, tentative but curious. His body reacted on its own accord as her hands twitched between his fingers, itching to move, to touch him. Her arms were beginning to cramp slightly and her body twitched as well, accidentally pushing against his. Mitsuru let out a hiss from between his teeth as she wriggled her arms free of his now loosened grip. His coherent thoughts seemed to lessen and lessen as Mahiru's curious, adventurous hands came to rest on his chest, which was already shirtless. His skin felt smooth underneath her heated fingertips as they roved up and down, their course of exploration unknown to either young adult. She could feel her body aflame as one of his hands came to rest on her hip while the other brought them a little away from the wall. As soon as that had been accomplished, Mitsuru tipped her head back, hoping to gain better access to the soft flesh of her neck. His kisses were passionate and filled with a burning sensation, she noted, as he kissed a trail down her neck to just above the hem of her uniform top.

Mitsuru was enjoying himself so much that he failed to notice that Mahiru had reached up a leg and wrapped it around his waist. He gasped, his lips leaving hers for a moment when she accidentally shifted to get more comfortable, and ground her hips against his. Mahiru, too, felt more than heard her own moan as a reaction to their bodies pressed together in such an intimate position. '_Maybe she's not so innocent after all_,' Mitsuru mused as he felt her eager lips on his neck. Mahiru was embarrassed by her actions at first, but as she looked at Mitsuru's somewhat helpless, panting form above her, she lost all sense of uncertainty. Swooping down like a hawk for its prey, Mahiru secured her leg around Mitsuru's waist before tangling one hand in his aqua locks and yanking his head closer to hers as she locked their lips once again. Mitsuru swore he was seeing stars as the blonde kissed him senseless, her lips never letting up as she pressed her breasts against his chest, teasing. Neither Mitsuru nor Mahiru were quite sure whether she was actually herself. But the thought was forgotten when Mitsuru regained control of his thoughts and turned them around so that they both fell on the couch, never once breaking contact of their lips. As Mitsuru lay above her, he could feel the strain in his pants, the tightness making his insides quiver and ache with desire; Mahiru brought her other leg to lock around his waist.

Another soft, pleasurable hiss left his lips as Mahiru broke the kiss, panting. Her own hair was somewhat sweaty from his "dancing" as she slowly opened her eyes, half-lidded with passion and lust. Mitsuru recognized it right away, a feeling he was familiar with in his line of work; all the women looked at him that way. But something about the way Mahiru looked at him screamed something different. Yes, there was passion and lust in her eyes; but something deeper lingered behind them. '_Could she…?_' His thoughts trailed off as Mahiru wound her arms around his neck, lifting herself up so that she could whisper in his ear. Her voice was trembling, he noted, as she breathed into his ear. "M-Mitsuru…are we going to…um….have sex?"

He blanched as he pushed her back down onto the couch, looking into her eyes. "Do you…I don't…this isn't just sex, Mahiru."

Her eyes widened as she gaped at him like a fish, quite unattractively in his opinion—but he thought she was endlessly beautiful nonetheless. "Then…what do you call this?"

He paused, searching for the proper words. '_I know that I love her…but is now the time to tell her?_' He gazed into her blue-brown eyes, which were scared and…hopeful? Lowering himself to her face until his nose touched hers, Mitsuru let out a shaky breath. "I…I care about you Mahiru, a lot. I've…cared about you for a long time now. I don't want to rush you or anything…but I care for you, really I..." He sighed when he couldn't find the words to express his thoughts, frustrated. "I really care for you…and I'm not good at explaining this…"

'_He cares about me, a lot? But he didn't say he loved me…so is this…wrong, to want to have sex with him?'_ Mahiru gasped as his lips met hers, not sure whether to cry or kiss him to his death. She was still confused by his strange confession and actions, not to mention she wanted to sleep with him. '_But he'd never intentionally hurt me…and he cares about me…Mitsuru cares about me!_' Ignoring her thoughts for a moment, she gave into the sensations that he caused throughout her body, the delicious tingles that coursed up and down her spine. She enjoyed every moment he touched her and everywhere his fingertips roamed as he worked his way down her collarbone to her shirt. When he reached the hem, he slowly pulled at the top in order to remove it. Mahiru let out a slightly embarrassed giggle as she assisted him, lifting her arms up so he could pull the annoying but skimpy uniform from her upper body. She shivered a little as the outside air hit her exposed skin. Even though it wasn't exactly cold in the room the change in temperature still caused her skin to blow over with goose bumps. She was about to ask Mitsuru a question when she felt his hands come up and cup her breasts. Even though he had removed her shirt her bra still remained in place, and he suddenly became irritated at the material blocking his fingers from touching her. Mahiru sighed in annoyance as she reached to remove it, but Mitsuru was quicker. His fingers sought her bra strap and quickly snapped it off—Mahiru didn't know he knew how to do such a thing.

When they were free from the confines of the lacy material, she settled back in contentment as Mitsuru continued his handy work. She gasped at the contact only to have it turn into a moan as his mouth encompassed one of them, causing her to fall into his grasp like jello. She writhed, gripping anything she could get her hands one, as he nipped at her skin, causing a slight burning sensation to course through her; then following it up with a flick of his tongue. This caused a soothing sensation to follow the burning one, earning him a satisfied breathing pattern from his partner. Mahiru couldn't tell how long she'd be able to hold out. She hoped longer, seeing as to she'd never experienced anything like it. She was, one could say, rather inexperienced with the whole sex issue, as well as what to expect. She already felt like an idiot, blushing when she'd open her eyes to actually look at Mitsuru as he worked, or as she touched him in return. His face, which held a look of what she could only describe as pleasure, made her flesh heat, causing trails of white, hot, soothing fire to course through her body. She was enjoying watching him as he did what he wanted to her body. She wasn't sure where he received the experience but at that point, she could care less, too. Complete coherent thoughts were seemingly pointless—she figured—when there was a gorgeous man—it helped that she was attracted to him in more ways than one—pleasing her and treating her body like a temple for worshipping.

Sighing contentedly, Mahiru could only squirm comfortably as Mitsuru kissed her everywhere his lips could, tracing a small trail that stopped just above her under wear. She let out a surprised squeak of embarrassment as he kissed her thighs, working from the outside to the inside until he was right between the juncture of her legs. Blushing, she reached down to stop him, feeling self conscious all of a sudden. He blinked, stopping his ministrations to look up at her. She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak as he continued to gaze at her in confusion.

"Uh…I…I'm not ready for that," she finally mumbled, her cheeks on fire as she tried to look anywhere but his dark, brooding, mesmerizing eyes. When he said nothing, she fell back, trying to explain herself without breaking the mood. "I just…this is so embarrassing…" she trailed off.

"Don't be embarrassed," his voice answered, cutting through her thoughts as he slowly crawled up her body until he was hovering above her, trapping her with his arms and knees. "I respect that you don't want this right now, Mahiru." In truth, he did want to ignore what she'd asked; but he would not do such a thing, mainly because he did care about her. Instead, he lowered himself until their lips almost touched, breathing out slowly until she shivered. "But you can always tell me what you do want."

"Oh…I…what can you do?" She inquired, somewhat shaken from his question.

He merely let out an amused chuckle, which she adored, considering she'd never really heard him laugh or anything of the like. "I can do anything you want me to do, Mahiru."

Blushing madly, she carefully settled on just kissing him again. Once she'd stopped, she let out a shy giggle. "I uh…I like this. I don't know if I'm ready to go further right now," she replied, her cheeks flushing more.

Mitsuru couldn't deny that he was having some trouble, mainly because he really wanted her then and there. But he nodded, relenting and sitting back a little as she reached for her bra. As she slowly began to put it on, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. "Mahiru?"

She glanced at him, stopping midway. "Yes, Mitsuru?"

"I hope you don't think…I mean…will you uh…go out with me?" He asked, tentative.

She laughed a little, her flushed cheeks glowing as she smiled. "After that, Mitsuru, what do you think my answer would is, you big meanie?" He blinked. "Yes, of course I will." After she'd replaced her work uniform, she stood to leave. Her hand was on the doorknob but right before she left, she turned around, giving him a shy, embarrassed grin. "I just…want to take things slow right now, all right?" Then she was gone.

He smirked, dreamily as he tried to control his body. "For you, Mahiru, anything."

Outside the door, Mahiru breathed in and out, steadily in hopes to catch her breath before she returned to work. Her mind was going a million miles per minute when she thought about what just happened in the room. She quickly glanced around, pulling her skirt down as she did so and waited for someone to come back and scold her about not working. It was a mere minute before Lucy emerged, a smirk on her lips and hands on her hips. Mahiru blanched, flushing all over again as she stumbled for words. "Lucy I…it's not what you think…I just…uh…"

Lucy chuckled. "So, he finally managed to catch you, did he?"

Mahiru blinked. "What?"

"Mitsuru—he managed to catch you." When Mahiru didn't appear to understand, Lucy grabbed the girl by her arm and dragged her towards the bar where guys were noisily harassing Alina for drinks. "That young man there…he talked about you after work, all the time. He's talking about you for years now."

"A couple years? But I've only known him since the beginning of this year…or something," Mahiru replied, flustered. Lucy suddenly became rather perturbed. "Lucy, what's the matter?"

"You can go home already. You've had a long night Mahi, so pack your stuff up and enjoy the rest of your night, all right?" Lucy shooed her away.

Before she knew it she had arrived home; she hadn't even said by to Mitsuru. '_Maybe I'm just dreaming, and tomorrow I'll wake up…and it'll all be a lie_,' she thought as she set her stuff down in her closet. She quickly peeled her sweaty clothes off and hopped in the shower for a quick rinse off. As the water ran she thought back, again, to Mitsuru and the private dance room. She shivered, anticipation coursing through her as she let the hot beads of water slide down her skin; she could feel everything even though he wasn't there. 'But it has to be a dream,' she told herself repeatedly. '_Mitsuru hates me…why in the world would he want to have sex with someone he hates? Why would he care about someone he hates_?' Shaking her head, she turned the hot water knob off, letting out a yelp when the cold water washed over her skin. After she was finished drying off and toweling her hair, she slipped into her pajamas and threw herself on her bed. Snuggling into her pillow, she gave the moon one last solemn look, hoping that the evening wasn't all a dream. But after a few minutes, she felt a tear slip down her cheek. '_No…it must be a dream…it has to be…_' Her last thought died before formulated as she fell into a peaceful slumber.

**:LINE BREAK:**

"We're back! Did you all miss us?"

Akira let out a loud laugh as he glomped Nozomu, knocking his shades off. "Nozomu! Of COURSE you were missed! The store is so empty without you!"

Misoka rolled his eyes. "However, I did not miss the hyper ness of you, Akira."

The younger man pouted. "Misoka, you're so mean!"

"Welcome back," Keiko added, holding a few CD's in her hand. "Uh…Mitsuru isn't in today and Mahiru overslept. She's on her way."

"Overslept? That's odd. I mean she oversleeps for school all the time but it's been about four months since that really happened. Was she asleep late last night?" Nozomu inquired.

"No," Keiko replied, shaking her head. "All the lights were out when Akira and I went by yesterday night. Maybe she forgot to set her alarm."

"I'll ask about it," Nozomu smiled and waved it away. "Well, I'm off. I have to go home and call my father. See you all later." With that, he was gone. Nozomu shook his head the minute he was out of the store, trying desperately to clear it. He was about halfway to his car when he ran into his sister. She was in such a hurry she almost fell over from shock when she hit him. Laughing, he steadied her in his arms, smiling down at her panting form. "Mahiru, I see that you're late this morning."

She blinked, momentarily stupefied before jumping on her brother. "Nozomu, you're back!"

"Hi, Mahiru," he replied, returning the sweet gesture. "How are you feeling this morning?"

She smiled, tiredly. "I'm a little sleepy…but I had a lost of homework last night. I fell asleep on top of it and had to get up early to finish it." She waved to Keiko. "I'm sorry I can't talk, but I'm late. Can we talk later?" He nodded; she grinned wider. "Ok, bye brother!" She quickly kissed him on the cheek before darting to the door. "See you later!"

He waved to her too, smiling until she'd disappeared behind the door. Once she was out of sight, his shoulders slumped a little as he finally made it to his car. Once inside, he slumped completely in the driver's seat, bringing his hand to his forehead. '_What's wrong with me?' _He sat there for what felt like eons, though it was mere seconds, before starting up the ignition to go home. The entire drive there had him distracted as he brought his hand to his cheeks, subconsciously rubbing the spot where Mahiru's lips had made contact with his own skin—he suddenly felt warm. He quickly rolled down the windows, hoping the air would calm his nerves as he pulled into the driveway of their house. It looked the same as always though it was daytime and no one was there. Immediately his eyes traveled the length of the hardwood until they landed on Mahiru's bedroom window—her curtains were drawn slightly, and at an odd angle as though she'd done it in her sleep. Chuckling, he got out of the car and went to the mailbox to retrieve the mail. Once he'd done that, he went inside the house and gasped. It appeared as though Mahiru had been cleaning recently, more than just her bedroom too. He wondered if the rest of the house was as immaculate as the living room.

After five minutes of looking everywhere, he had to admit that he was impressed. Everything was spotless, for the most part. Inside the kitchen he grabbed a can of raspberry iced tea and was about to down it when something caught his eye on the refrigerator. On her To-Do list was his number and the name of his hotel in the Number one slot. Next to it was a note that read, "**This is most important—call Nozomu first thing every morning!"** with many exclamation marks next to it. He felt his smile deepen; she had called him every morning, true to her word. Before he could control himself, he lifted a finger to the note, trailing it slowly over the lettering. '_She really called me…and never forgot, not once…'_ It was another split-second before he finally caught himself, eyes widening as he fell onto a chair, tea forgotten as his hands cradled his head. '_No…no…what am I thinking?_' Shaking his head furiously, he snatched the aluminum can up and walked to his room, suddenly somber. Once there he fell back onto his bed, turning his head towards the dresser where there was a picture of him and Mahiru, playing pick up sticks with jacks instead of actual sticks. He felt his cheeks aflame and turned to look at the ceiling. '_Mahiru…what are you doing to me?'_

**:LINE BREAK:**

Mahiru was utterly bored again, as was the usual, as she continued organizing carts for the next day. Keiko was up front helping people with Akira, and Mitsuru was nowhere in sight. '_I guess…well, then it must've been a dream,'_ she mused as she placed a CD on the cart, her brows furrowed in concentration. '_This sucks…_' she was halfway through her first shelf when she realized that if it was a dream, how disappointed she really was. Sulking, she let her head fall against the CD's, her eyes watering a little. '_I hate my life…_'

"Hey."

Instantly Mahiru fell off her stool, back hitting the floor. She groaned in protest as she squeezed her eyes shut. '_Dammit…_' Sighing, she did nothing to help herself as she tried to ignore the greeting. '_He's not here, it's not real…I'm imagining._' She was about to cry when she heard it again. "Stop teasing me…"

"Are you ok, Mahiru? What the matter with you?"

'_He's_ _really here! But that doesn't mean it wasn't a dream…_' Sighing again, she slowly lifted herself up. "Mitsuru…I thought you weren't coming in today. Keiko told me…" She trailed off suddenly. "Did you just call me Mahiru?" He nodded. "But you never…what's going on? That must've been one hell of a dream…"

"You thought that was a dream?" He stepped closer to help her up.

She gasped. "Well, it had to have been! There is no way you would've kissed me! You hate me, remember?" She let out a nervous chuckle when he just gave her an intense stare, his eyes narrowing. She hadn't realized how close he'd gotten in the process of helping her up, which was odd in itself. '_Maybe it WASN'T a dream…_' She laughed again, more nervous than before. "Mitsuru, I—"

She was silenced when his lips closed over her, softly and gently as he lifted her from the ground until she was kneeling in front of him, hands clasping his shirt. Once she seemed to be stable, he deepened the kiss, running his tongue along her lips until she gasped again. Taking this opportunity, he slowly probed the crevices of her mouth with his tongue, tasting the sweetness of strawberry jelly. She shivered as his hands brought them closer, his fingers curling around her waist. After a minute or so, they broke for air, Mahiru flushed and disbelieving while Mitsuru inhaled, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Do you still think it was a dream?"

She blinked, dumbfounded for a moment before her face suddenly turned red and her hands came up to cup of her face in embarrassment. "No, I…I don't think so," she mumbled quietly as she leaned on his chest for support. His arms circled her automatically, rubbing her back comfortingly. "Oh…I…"

"It's ok. I meant what I said yesterday night, Mahiru."

"**_I…I care about you Mahiru, a lot. I've…cared about you for a long time now. I don't want to rush you or anything…but I care for you, really I…"_** Mahiru blushed harder, burrowing into his chest at the memory. '_Oh yeah…now I remember.'_ She nodded, reliving the night before. "I know…I just…I was hoping so badly that I tried to not get my hopes up so high that I…" she sighed. "I'm not making any sense."

"I get it," he whispered in reply, smiling a little. "But Mahiru, we need to…um…"

"Talk about what this means? About what happens now?" She supplied, her voice tentative. "Um…Nozomu can't know."

"I agree," he said. "But what about everyone else?"

"No one else has to know. I want to take things slow, remember?" She pecked his nose suddenly. "Just…let's take things slow."

"Right…slow," he murmured back as he moved in for another kiss. '_I don't know where this will go with you Mahiru…but I love you_…' He thought as she responded to his kiss. '_I really love you.'_

'_She's not going to make it.' _Mahiru felt another shiver run down her spine when she heard the voice again; but she pushed it away as she continued to kiss Mitsuru. '_Mahiru, I love you.'_ Though the voice sounded a lot like Mitsuru, she decided to ignore it anyway. '_Pay attention to Mitsuru, pay attention to Mitsuru_!' She was slowly aware that things were becoming a bit heavy in her mind, and she clutched Mitsuru tighter as they kissed.

'_Mahiru, I love you.' 'This is your new sister, Mahiru Shiraishi.' 'Akira.' 'Misoka.' 'Friend forever, right Mahi?' _

'_She's not going to make it.' 'She'll lose it all, everything she used to know.' 'Her recovery is amazing.' _

'_Please don't forget me…you are the only one who gave me a chance.' 'Please wake up; I need you.'_

'_I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS; I HATE YOU!' _

'**_I HATE YOU!'_**

Mahiru threw herself away from Mitsuru, hugging herself with her arms as she sobbed. Mitsuru raised a brow, confused as he leaned forward to ask her what was wrong. "Mahiru, what's the matter?" She shook her head. "Please tell me. Maybe I can help you."

"Why? What are these voices? Why do you hate me? Why?" She shouted at him through her tears.

He blinked in disbelief, about to retort when her eyes suddenly rolled back into her head. He barely had time to catch her before she collapsed on the floor. "Oh shit…"

TBC

**:LINE BREAK:**

_(AH! That was it for Chapter 8. I guess it was more of a filler chappie than anything else. It should get better in the next one. No real concrete stuff in this one—sorry all. Anywho, this one still took a while cause it's hard to write citrusy stuff, for me anyway. Well, not much else to say, except that the rating is gonna change. Please R&R if you liked or hated it. That's all. Bye._

_Chocomintswirl_


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